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BY THE AUTHOR OF THIS VOLUME. 



THE VOICE IX SIXGTXG. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF 

MADAM EMMA SEILER 
REVISED EDITION. 

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/ 

THE 



Voice in Speaking 



TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF 

EMMA SEILEE 

Member of the American Philosophical Society and Author of 
"The Yoice in Singing" 



BY 

W. H. FURNESS D.D. 

Member of the American Philosophical Society 




\r 



PHILADELPHIA 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1875 









Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction 5 

CHAPTER I. 
Acoustics in General 11 

CHAPTER II. 
The Vowels 23 

CHAPTER III. 
The Consonants 34 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Vocal Tones 62 

CHAPTER V. 

The Timbre of the Voice 85 

CHAPTER VI. 
Reach of the Voice 95 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Reflection of Sound 102 

3 



4 . CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

Faults in Speaking 131 

CHAPTER IX. 
Modulation 131 

APPENDIX. 

Clergyman's Sore Throat, by Carl Seller, M.D. 155 



IKTEODUOTION. 



Since the publication of " The Voice in Sing- 
ing," I have frequently been applied to for in- 
formation and instruction by teachers of elocution 
and by persons whose callings require them to 
speak in public. My attention has thus been 
turned to the action of the Voice in Speaking ; 
and occasion has been afforded me to pursue more 
thoroughly, with the assistance of my son, Dr. 
Can Seiler, the study of the natural laws under- 
lying these sounds. The results which we have 
arrived at are given in the first part of this little 
work. 

As at the present day, with advancing intel- 
lectual culture, it becomes more and more the aim 
of individuals to give a higher and more graceful 
character to the various modes of expressing the 
inner life, so was it likewise, as history bears wit- 
ness, among the most cultivated nations of ancient 
times. In every civilized people the endeavor 
2 6 



$ INTRODUCTION. 

to perfect the manner of speaking is always es- 
pecially conspicuous. Of all our ways of giving 
utterance to the life within, Speech is the most 
important. It is the minister of our collective in- 
tellectual being. This it is that raises man above 
all other living creatures and renders him capable 
of constant and illimitable progress, making the 
conquests of one the property of all. 

So long ago as the fifth century before Christ 
there were schools in Greece in which the Art of 
Speaking was taught. In the convent schools of 
the Middle Ages it was carefully cultivated, just 
as at the present day it is made a branch of 
study in most of the educational institutions of 
Europe. 

But, although the Art of Speaking has been so 
long taught, there has been no guiding principle 
in the work of instruction. The sole reliance has 
been a more or less obscure sense of the beautiful. 
The examples of distinguished orators and dra- 
matic artists have alone been looked to. The 
method of teaching has been purely empirical; 
and the true and the beautiful in speaking have 
been unconsciously reached by renowned speakers 
and actors only by the sure instinct of genius. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

In works upon Elocution attention is almost 
exclusively given to the so-called Modulation of 
the Voice, to Expression and whatever pertains 
thereto ; while sonorousness and fulness of voice 
are regarded as incidental gifts of Nature, admit- 
ting neither of modification nor of improvement. 
As to distinctness and reach of voice, — these, it 
is considered, are attainable only by the exertion 
of mere physical force. 

It is only recently that Science has succeeded 
in discovering and elucidating the natural laws 
upon which all the sounds of the human voice 
depend. These laws of Nature are, in both sexes 
and in all mankind of every age and tongue, un- 
changeably the same, irrespective of the manner 
in which these sounds may be combined in dif- 
ferent languages. Every normal human being is 
by nature capable of forming all the sounds that 
occur in the various tongues and dialects of man- 
kind, although all the sounds capable of being 
made by the voice do not appear in any one 
language. 

With an accurate knowledge of the laws upon 
which melody, fulness, distinctness, reach of voice, 
etc., depend, it becomes possible to communicate 



g INTRODUCTION. 

these qualities to voices to which they do not 
appear naturally to belong. 

Prof. Helmholtz, in his work " Die Lehre von 
den Tonempjindungen" in which are published his 
investigations of the vowel sounds, was the first 
to call attention to the musical properties of the 
speaking sounds of the human voice. But al- 
though, since the appearance of that great work, 
Acoustics, physically and physiologically con- 
sidered, have been made the subject of new and 
diligent study, and much valuable information 
has been obtained in this department of natural 
science, yet, with a single exception,* no attempt 
has thus far been made, with favorable results, 
to ascertain, for the perfecting of the power 
of speech, the musical character of consonant 
sounds.f 

It was with this in view that, with the aid of 
my son, I began the preparation of this book, the 
labor of which was at first not a little increased 

* Dr. Oscar Wolf: Sprache und Ohr. 

f Jacob Grimm, the most eminent of German students of 
language, disposes of the influence of physical Acoustics in 
the improvement of the speaking voice with the jesting 
remark that " the air was too thin a thing for him." 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

by the many obscurities and contradictions that 
tended to lead us astray. In investigating the 
musical qualities of the sounds of Speech, we 
made use of a series of tuning-forks and reso- 
nators, and had advanced a considerable way in 
our inquiries when there appeared the valuable 
work by Dr. Wolf, of Frankfort, just referred 
to, in which this portion of our general subject 
is treated with like results : one of many instances, 
by the way, of the occurrence of the same thought 
coincidently to different persons in different places 
and of the adoption of similar methods of devel- 
oping it. 

Although Dr. Wolf has studied the musical 
qualities of the Consonants only with reference 
to morbid conditions of the sense of hearing, he 
has nevertheless pursued his inquiries in the same 
way as ourselves, and, with slight variations, has 
arrived at the same conclusions. 

Dr. Wolf has had the advantage of the Over- 
tone Apparatus, recently invented by Appun in 
Hanau, by which the labor of the inquiry was 
materially lightened. The fact, however, that, 
pursuing this study independently of each other 
and with different aids, we have come to so close 
2* 



10 IN TROD UCTION. 

an agreement in onr results, is no slight testimony 
to their correctness. 

As Dr. Wolf was the first to publish his work, 
to him is due the credit of being the first to dis- 
cover and describe the musical character of the 
Consonants. 

This is, however, only a part of the task un- 
dertaken in this book, which is to investigate 
specially those functions of our vocal organs not 
hitherto understood, and to elucidate the results 
of these investigations as clearly as possible, and 
so to open a road for the improvement of our 
mode of speaking. 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



CHAPTER I. 

ACOUSTICS IN GENERAL. 

TN order to be able to give a clear idea of the 
- 1 - interesting processes of the organs of the 
human voice in the act of speaking, we must go 
back, at the risk of repeating what is well known, 
to Acoustics in general, as elucidated by Prof. 
Helmholtz. 

The movements of the air, which convey sound 
to our ears, come to us in two forms, as Tone 
and as Noise.* The whistling of the wind, the 
splashing of water, the rattling of a wagon, are 
noises. Musical instruments give us tones. When, 
however, many untuned instruments sound to- 
gether, or when all the keys of a piano within 
an octave are struck at the same time, then it is 

* The Voice in Singing, by E. Seiler. 

11 



12 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

a noise that we hear. Tones are therefore more 
simple and regular than noises. The ear perceives 
both by means of the agitation of the air that sur- 
rounds us. In the case of noise, the agitation of the 
air is an irregularly changing motion. In musical 
sounds, on the other hand, there is a movement of 
the air in a continuously regular manner, which 
must be caused by a similar movement in the body 
which gives the sound. These so-called periodical 
movements of the sounding body, rising, falling, 
and repeated at equal intervals, are named vibra- 
tions. The length of the interval elapsing between 
one movement and the next succeeding repetition 
of the same movement is called the duration of 
vibration, or period of motion. 

A Tone is produced by a periodical motion of 
the sounding body; a JSToise, by motions not peri- 
odical. We can see and feel the sounding vibra- 
tions of stationary bodies. The eye can perceive 
the vibrations of a string, and a person playing 
on a clarionet, an oboe, or any similar instrument, 
feels the vibration of the reed in the mouth-piece. 
How the movements of the air, agitated by the 
vibrations of the stationary body, are felt by the 
ear as Tone, Helmholtz illustrates by the motion of 



ACOUSTICS TN GENERAL. \% 

waves of water, in the following way. Imagine a 
stone thrown into perfectly smooth water. Around 
the point of the surface struck by the stone there 
is instantly formed a little ring, which, moving 
outward equally in all directions, spreads to an 
ever-enlarging circle. Corresponding with this 
ring, sound-waves go out in the air from an agi- 
tated point, and enlarge in all directions as far as 
the limits of the atmosphere permit. What goes 
on in the air is essentially the same that takes 
place on the surface of the water ; the chief differ- 
ence only is, that sound spreads out in the spacious 
sea of air like a sphere, while the waves on the 
surface of the water can extend only like a circle. 
At the surface, the mass of the water is free to rise 
upward, where it is compressed and forms billows 
or crests. In the interior of the aerial ocean the 
air must be condensed, because it cannot rise ; for, 
in fact, the condensation of the sound-wave corre- 
sponds with the crest, while the rarefaction of the 
sound-wave corresponds with the sinus of the 
water-wave.* The water-waves press continually 
onwards into the distance, but the particles of the 
water move up and down periodically within 

* Tyndall. 



14 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

narrow limits. One may easily see these two 
movements by observing a small piece of wood 
floating on water : the wood moves just as the 
particles of water in contact with it move. It is 
not carried along with the rings of the wave, 
but is tossed up and down, and at last remains 
in the same place where it was at first. In a 
similar way, as the particles of water around the 
wood are moved by the ring only in passing, so 
the waves of sound spread onwards through new 
strata of air, while the particles of air, tossed to 
and fro by these waves as they pass, are never 
really moved by them from their first place. A 
drop falling upon the surface of the water creates 
in it only a single agitation ; but when a regular 
series of drops falls upon it, every drop produces a 
ring on the water, every ring passes over the sur- 
face just like its predecessor, and is followed by 
other rings in the same way. In this way there 
is produced on the water a regular series of rings 
ever expanding. As many drops as fall into the 
water in a second, so many waves will in a second 
strike a floating piece of wood, which will be just so 
many times tossed up and down, and thus have a 
periodical motion, the period of which corresponds 



ACOUSTICS IN GENERAL. 15 

with the interval at which the drops fall. In like 
manner a sounding body periodically moved pro- 
duces a similar periodic movement: first of the 
air, and then of the drum in the ear ; the duration 
of the vibrations constituting the movement must 
be the same in the ear as in the sounding body. 

The sounds produced by such periodic agita- 
tions of the air have three properties: 1. Strength; 
2. Pitch; 3. Timbre. 

The Strength of the tone depends on the 
greater or less breadth of its vibrations, — that is, 
of the waves of sound ; the higher or lower pitch 
of the tones, upon the number of vibrations, — that 
is, the tones are always higher the greater the 
number, and lower the fewer. 

A second is used as the unit of time, and by 
number of vibrations is understood the number 
which the sounding body gives forth in a second 
of time. The tones used in music lie between 
40 and 4000 vibrations per second in the extent 
of seven octaves. The tones which we can per- 
ceive lie between 16 and 38,000 vibrations to the 
second within the compass of eleven octaves. The 

one-lined a (fy v from which all instruments 
- .1 I 



1(J THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

are tuned, has now usually 440 to 450 vibrations 
to the second in England and America. The 
French Academy, however, has recently estab- 
lished for the same note 435 vibrations, and this 
lower tuning has already been universally intro- 
duced in Germany.* 

The octave of a tone has in the same time 
exactly twice as many vibrations as the tone itself. 
The fifth above the first octave has three times as 
many; the second octave, four times; the major 
third above the second octave, five times; the 
fifth of the same octave, six times ; and the minor 
seventh of. the same octave, seven times. In no- 
tation it would be thus, taking as the lowest note 
C, for example : 



3t 2 3 4 *J 5 6 7 



etc. 



8 16 32 



* Kadau, in his u L' Acoustique ou les Phenomenes du 

Son," states the difference "between the concert pitch and 

the natural pitch to he, as is shown in the following scale, 

within an octave : 

Concert Pitch 258* 290 S25f 345* 887* 435 488* 517* 

in Germany 
and France. 



thr-J J •' J ' " = 



Natural Pitch. 258* 291 323* 344* 388 431* 485 517* 



ACOUSTICS IN GENERAL. 17 

The figures below the lines denote how many 
times greater the number of vibrations is than 
that of the first tone. In the first octave we find 
only one tone ; in the second, two ; in the third, 
all the tones of the major chord with the minor 
seventh. In the fourth octave we find eight 
tones, which, however, we divide in our system 
of music into twelve. Likewise, there are in 
the fifth octave sixteen tones, which number is 
doubled in the sixth. Hence the Greeks, follow- 
ing the natural laws of Acoustics, had quarter 
and eighth tones, which we, in our moderated 
scale, have done away with.* 

The production of a higher pitch in a tone de- 
pends in all sounding bodies upon the uniform law 
which we may observe in the strings of musical 
instruments, whose tones ascend either by greater 
tension, by shortening, or through a diminution of 
the density of the strings. It is the same with 
sounding air-columns, as in organ-pipes and flutes, 

* So long as melody alone was aimed at in music, and 
was accompanied only by octaves, the tones preserved their 
natural purity. But with the rise of harmony (the accord of 
different tones) there was rendered necessary a more regu- 
lar system, to which the purity of the tones was sacrificed. 
3 



13 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

the vocal cords of the human voice, and all tone- 
producing bodies. 

Strength and Pitch are the first two properties 
of Sound. The third property of Sound is the 
Timbre. When we hear one and the same tone 
sounded successively upon a violin, trumpet, clari- 
onet, oboe, piano, by a human voice, etc., although 
the tone is of the same strength and pitch, yet the 
character of it is different, and we very easily dis- 
tinguish the instrument from which it comes. The 
changes of the timbre seem to be infinitely mani- 
fold, for, not to mention the fact that we have a 
multitude of different musical instruments all of 
which can give the same tone, and that different 
instruments of the same kind as well as different 
voices show certain differences of Timbre, the very 
same tone can be given upon one and the same 
instrument, or by one and the same voice, with 
many differences of Timbre. Since now the 
strength of the tone is determined by the breadth 
(amplitude) of the vibrations, and the pitch by 
their number, so the varieties of Timbre are owing 
to the different forms of the sound-waves; for, 
as the surface of the water is stirred differently by 
the falling into it of a stone, by the blowing over 



ACOUSTICS IN GENERAL. \ 9 

it of the wind, and by the passing through it of a 
ship, etc., so the movements of the air take differ- 
ent shapes from sounding bodies. The movement 
proceeding from the string of a violin over which 
the bow is drawn is different from that caused by 
the hammer of a piano or by a clarionet. 

That Timbre is dependent on the form of the 
vibrations is confirmed by Helmholtz, and ac- 
knowledged as so far correct that every different 
timbre requires a different vibratory form; but 
different forms sometimes correspond to nearly 
the same timbre. We have learned by the ste- 
reoscope that we perceive two different views of 
every object, and that we compose a third one 
from those two. In like manner the ear per- 
ceives different tones which come to our con- 
sciousness only as one tone. 

It is in general very difficult, especially in the 
case of the human voice, to distinguish these 
single parts of tone, because we are accustomed to 
take the impressions of the external Avorld with- 
out analyzing them, and only for the sake of their 
practical utility. 

But when we are once convinced of the exist- 
ence of partial tones, we can, if we concentrate 



20 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

our attention, also distinguish them.* The ear 
hears, then, not only that tone the pitch of which 
is determined, as we have shown, by the number 
of its vibrations, but a whole series of tones be- 
sides, which are named "the Harmonics, or over- 
tones" of the tone, which are arranged in a certain 
order above the first or fundamental tone, which 
is generally the strongest. 

Helmholtz has shown that all sounds have 
overtones, which are a production of sound form- 
ing itself in the air. But to dwell upon this point 
here would lead us too far away. The series of 
these overtones has for each perfect musical tone the 
same order which has already been given (p. 16). 
Imperfect musical tones contain so-called inhar- 
monic overtones, which lie close together higher 
than the harmonic overtones, and hence cause the 
lower harmonic overtones to be weak or to dis- 
appear altogether. The different timbre of tones 
thus depends upon the different forms of the 



* When we strike strongly on the piano the low contra 
frS 1 and press the pedal at the same time, and 



-^r then silence the string of the struck note with 
the finger, we hear quite plainly several overtones as soon 
as the fundamental tone ceases to overpower them. 



ACOUSTICS IN GENERAL. 21 

vibrations, whence arise various relations of the 
fundamental tone to the overtones, as they vary- 
in strength and number. The most thorough 
inquiries have led to the following results, of the 
first importance in every formation of tone : that 
the appropriate form of the vibratory waves, which 
is the most agreeable to the ear, as well as the 
fullest, softest, and most beautiful timbre which cor- 
responds to that form, is produced when the fun- 
damental tone and its overtones so sound that 
the fundamental tone and the overtones are per- 
ceived together, the former most strongly, while the 
latter are heard more and more faintly in the inter- 
vals of the major chord with the minor seventh, so 
that ivith the fundamental tone still further sound 
seven overtones. If the higher harmonic overtones 
grow stronger and even overpower the fundamental 
tone, the sound grows shrill, but when the dis- 
cordant overtones lying close together, higher than 
the tones just named, overpower the fundamental 
tone, the timbre becomes sharp and disagreeable. 
In bass voices which use too great an amount of 
breath, the overtones up to the sixteenth are 
sometimes heard, which gives such voices a harsh 
and disagreeable timbre. But as the tones of 
3* 



22 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

different voices have their harmonic overtones that 
properly belong to them, so every singing as well 
as every speaking voice has its characteristic tim- 
bre, — i.e. its peculiar ring by which we distinguish 
it from other voices.* Every voice has one, often 
two overtones, which predominate in every tone; 
and this it is that gives the voice its peculiar 
quality. This peculiarity is due to the particular 
form of the cavity of the mouth. 

* The Voice in Singing. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE VOWELS. 



fTlHE vocal organ in man is a musical instru- 
-"- ment, which is commonly compared with a 
so-called reed instrument as we see it in organ- 
pipes. The lungs are the bellows, the windpipe 
is the feeding-pipe, the larynx with the tone-gener- 
ating vocal cords represents the reed instrument, 
and the cavity of the mouth the resonance-tube. 
Among all musical instruments, however, there is 
no one that, like the vocal organ of man, com- 
bines in itself the peculiarities of them all, no one 
that even approaches it in perfection, or is capable 
of such a vast and delicate variety of tones. But 
what distinguishes the organ of the human voice 
from all other instruments is the extraordinary 
rapidity and accuracy of its movements : not only 
do the vocal cords change their action and the 
degree of their tension with every different grade 
of tone, but all the parts of the cavity of the 
mouth put themselves in varying relations to one 

23 



24 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

another with the slightest change of a sound. 
As every syllable which we utter consists of 
several sounds, the tuning of the cavity of the 
mouth must, even for the shortest syllable, change 
several times. Of this ceaseless activity of the 
vocal instrument in speaking we may easily satisfy 
ourselves by simply observing the movement of 
the lips and lower jaw of a person speaking, and 
by considering how much activity of the vocal 
organ this movement implies. 

The sounds we make in speaking consist of 
tones and noises. The noises and characteristic 
tones of the speaking sounds, as we hear them in 
whispering, are formed in the cavity of the mouth, 
and are supported in speaking aloud by the tones 
of the larynx. Speech thus requires a very com- 
plicated mechanism, as it results from the com- 
bined working of two very different actions of our 
vocal organs. 

About ten years ago, Prof. Helmholtz, in his 
" Lehre von den Tonempfindungen" published his 
scientific investigations of the vowel sounds. He 
found, for instance, that in every vowel sound the 
cavity of the mouth is tuned to a certain definite 
tone by the changes of its several parts, tongue, 



THE VOWELS. 25 

lips, etc., and by the rise and fall of the larynx, 

and that this tone is wholly independent of age or 

sex, and is always the same, by whatever musical 

tone produced, or by whatever action of the vocal 

cords accompanied. What the cavity of the mouth 

in a child lacks in respect of room is supplied in a 

grown person by a greater closing of the aperture 

of the mouth, so that the resonance is the same in 

both 'cases. Only the different shades of the vowel, 

as pronounced in different dialects and languages, 

change the pitch of the peculiar characteristic tone 

of the vowel.* 

Thus it makes no difference whether, for 

example, the vowel o be spoken with the note 

. y~f =\ The tone with which the air in 

c or i. 



f 



"*" =J the mouth accords will be the 
same, whether it be a man or a child who speaks it. 



Vowel sound 



.*:££—" Vowel sound _-_:£:EE 



%) xfvnote Overtones £3 I Overtones 

Keynote 

* This tone is not an overtone, as it is universally repre- 
sented. Even the most acute investigators have not hitherto 
regarded the voice in speaking in its true light, as the 
result of two different actions working together. 



26 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



Though the vowel sounds in German are sus- 
ceptible in pronunciation of but little change, yet 
the following tables indicate variations due to 
the different localities in which the investigation 
of this subject has been pursued ; but in English, 
where every vowel undergoes so many variations 
in pronunciation, it is hardly possible to fix the 
precise pitch of its proper tone. This, however, 
is not important, the chief point being that the 
cavity of the mouth tunes itself for every vowel 
to a certain fixed tone, which gives it its char- 
acteristic clang. 

The following are the tones to which the cavity 
of the mouth is timed in t\iQ sounds of the different 
vowels as they have been ascertained by Helm- 
holtz and Donders, and as they are set down in 
"Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen" There- 
with are given also the results of our investiga- 
tions. 



I. Helmholtz. 






K 



=& 



E 

Aj L&- 



2.£ ±"» 



A 



f t>b f d f *c 



THE VOWELS. 27 



II. Donders. 

U A O 



^ 



3=§^ig==g 



*= 



bb 



III. Seiler. 




The results No. in. are given according to the 
American orchestra pitch, which is about half a 
tone higher than the European. Helmholtz saysf 
that the vowels u, o, a, have only one tone, while 
the vowels ai, e, i, o, u, have two very distinct 
tones,! and this is explained by the fact that in 
the case of the latter vowels a sort of enclosure is 
formed in the cavity of the mouth, dividing it into 
two spaces, each of which keeps its own pitch. He 
compares this form of the cavity of the mouth to 
a flask, the neck of which corresponds with the 

* I as it is spoken in the English word ring. 
f Lehre von den Tonempjindungen. 

% It should be constantly borne in mind by the reader that 
the examples given are taken from the German language. 



28 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING, 

tongue and lips in the front part of the mouth, 
and the body of it with the back part.* 

Donders, as may be seen in the foregoing scale, 
gives for each vowel only one proper tone, and 
neither I nor my son was able, in the vowels ai, 
e, i, o, u, to distinguish the two tones claimed for 
them by Helmholtz, either by the unassisted ear 
or by the resonators expressly made for the pur- 
pose and consisting of two globes shaped like the 
cavity of the mouth as this disposes itself for ai, 
e, i, o, and u. As only the size, but not the form 
of a hollow globe, has influence upon the number 
of vibrations of its proper tone, so our resonators, 
connected with each other by a narrow opening, 
gave a tone corresponding to that of the two hol- 

* In the investigation of these facts, Helmholtz made 
use of a row of tuning-forks and resonators. He held 
one after the other while sounding before his mouth, 
distinctly articulating the vowels. As soon as the cavity 
of the mouth was in accord with the vibrating tuning-fork, 
the latter began to sound more strongly ; and so it was with 
the resonators. After he had thus found the proper tones 
of the vowels, he attempted to imitate the vowel sounds 
artificially, which he succeeded in doing tolerably plainly 
in the case of a, o, and u, but with the others only approx- 
imately, because the noises which accompany the vowel 
6ounds could not be imitated. 



THE VOWELS. 29 

low globes taken together ; and not until the open- 
ing between the two was entirely closed — which, 
however, never happens in the cavity of the mouth 
when pronouncing the said vowel sounds — could 
each globe be set vibrating by itself. 

To the vowel a, as in the German ' Voter' or 
the English 'father? corresponds a funnel-shaped 
form of the cavity of the mouth, enlarging upward 
from the larynx with tolerable regularity, whereby 
the lips open wide, the tip of the tongue is lightly 
pressed against the lower teeth, and the root of the 
tongue is somewhat raised. 

In uttering the vowel e, as in the German 'See* 
or the English l mayJ the lips are not so far apart 
as in the case of a; the opening of the mouth is 
more like a slit, as its corners are somewhat drawn 
back; the tip of the tongue presses against the 
lower teeth, and the body of the tongue against 
the roof of the mouth, in such a way, however, as to 
form a tubular opening between it and the tongue. 
The root of the tongue is drawn somewhat down, 
so that a second smaller space is made in the back 
of the mouth, which is connected with that in front 
by the tube-like opening we have just described. 

In forming the vowel i, as in the German 
4 



30 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

' Ring' or the English ' ring/ the slit-shaped 
opening of the mouth is narrower and longer than 
in e; the back of the tongue presses rather more 
broadly against the roof of the mouth, the front 
space of the cavity of the mouth becomes smaller 
and the back space greater, while the larynx is 
raised, and the tube-shaped opening between the 
tongue and the roof of the mouth is longer. In 
the case of the vowel o, as in the German or 
English '#0/ the cavity of the mouth is narrowed 
in front by the lips, and the opening of the 
mouth is round. The tongue lies entirely flat, 
and the root of the tongue is drawn back against 
the palate, while the larynx is drawn downward 
in order to render the cavity of the mouth as 
spacious as possible. In making the vowel u, 
as in the German ' Hutf or the English l boot J 
the mouth is less open and less round than in 
o, the lips are set closer to the teeth, and the 
back part of the tongue touches the palate lightly, 
so that the air in the nasal cavity is made to 
vibrate in accord, which gives to the vowel u its 
peculiarly dull sound. The cavity of the mouth 
is narrowest in the case of u, and broadest in 
that of a. 



THE VOWELS. §\ 

The so-called Umlaute, in German, d, o, u y as 
also the different shades of the vowels as they are 
made in the English language, are formed by a 
disposition of the mouth corresponding as closely 
as possible to that by which the vowels of which 
they are composed are formed. Thus, the tongue 
in d, as in the German i Bar 1 or the English 
'bear J has almost the same position as in e: that 
is, the same lowering of the tongue in its centre 
from the back towards the front; only, instead 
of the sides of the tongue pressing against the 
roof of the mouth, the tongue merely rises a 
little and allows the cavity of the mouth to be 
almost as broad as in the case of a. In the 
formation of o, as in the German 'sctton,' and 
of ilj as in 'fruhf the tongue keeps the same 
position as in e and i, while the cavity of the 
mouth is formed as for the o and u. 

The diphthongs, such as ei y ai, oi, au, ou, etc., in 
which two vowels sound, one immediately after 
the other, require two different dispositions of the 
mouth, and accordingly each of their constituent 
vowels has its proper tone. 

All vowel sounds are accompanied by noises, 
arising from the striking of the air upon the soft 



32 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

and hard parts of the interior of the mouth, and 
from the consequent rapid discords produced. 
Even before Helmholtz, Willis and Donders had 
discovered the characteristic tones of the vowels 
formed in the cavity of the mouth. 

From the foregoing description it appears — first, 
that in speaking, the cavity of the mouth in the 
formation of every vowel adapts itself to an en- 
tirely distinct tone, which is the peculiar charac- 
teristic clang of that vowel; secondly, that these 
proper tones of the several vowels, made in the 
mouth, are wholly independent of the tones of 
the voice that come from the vocal cords vibrating 
in the larynx, and at every age and in both sexes 
are always the same ; but the various shades given 
to the vowel sounds in the pronunciation of the 
different languages, and of different dialects of 
the same language, have, and they alone have, an 
influence upon their pitch. 

The extent to which the larynx moves up 
and down in the forming of the vowels is 
about half an inch. Beginning with A in its 
natural position, it moves upward in E and I, 
downward in O and U, as they are pronounced 
in the previous examples. 



THE VOWELS. 



33 



Vowels. 


Helmholtz. 


DONDEKS. 


Seiler. 


U 


f 


f 


t 





bb 


d 


b * 


A 


bb 


bb 


bd 


6 


1 *c 


I 


*1 


tJ 


f I 


a^ 


ja 


E 


f b_b 


»c 


b h 


I 


f d 


^ 


«f 


Ai 


I * 







Vowels. 


With words. 


Willis. 


Helmholtz. 





No 


c^ 


c 


Ao 


Nought 


be 


K 




Paw 


g 


& 


A 


Part 


b i 


bd 




Paa 


f 


bb 


E 


Pay 


d 


b b 






= 


- 




Pet 


£ 


£ 


I 


See 


S. 


d 








= 



4* 



CHAPTER III. 



THE CONSONANTS. 



TTTHILE so much has been accomplished by 
recent investigations in the domain of 
Acoustics in respect to the formation of the vowel 
sounds, as we have shown in the foregoing pages, 
little or nothing, on the other hand, is to be 
found in scientific works on the subject of the 
musical character of the Consonants. 

Helmholtz remarks, in passing, that the conso- 
nants m, n, and / have overtones: beyond this 
brief observation, the consonants are almost uni- 
versally treated as mere noises. It is only neces- 
sary, however, to use the whispering voice to be 
satisfied that, with their characteristic noises, most 
of the consonants have also a distinct musical 
clang. 

These proper tones are distinguished from those 
of the vowels by the fact that difference of lan- 
guage or of dialect has no effect in changing their 
34 



THE CONSONANTS. 35 

pitch, which is always the same in the speaking 
voice of man, in all conditions, — that is, so long 
as the consonant is spoken alone without any 
connection with other sounds of speech. One may 
easily satisfy himself of the fact by requesting 
several individuals to sound a consonant, b,f, or 
s, for example, and endeavor to change its pitch. 
They will not be able to make the sound higher 
or lower than the rest. Thus, in setting the 
key-note of a song, instead of giving the note 
with a tuning-fork or whistle, one who knows the 
proper tone of a consonant has only to whisper 
that consonant to be able to give the key-note 
quite correctly. Only when the consonants g, 
k, d, t, and / are uttered in connection with such 
sounds of speech as have a higher pitch than 
their own do their proper tones seem to sound 
higher, but this only to a certain limit. In the 
word Stick, for instance, the proper tone of the t, 
placed as it is between s and i, the proper tones 
of which are much higher than its own, ap- 
pears to be higher than in the word to, or than 
when it is uttered by itself; and- this is probably 
because the cavity of the mouth in such rapid 
utterance cannot accurately enough accommodate 



36 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

itself to a lower tone standing between two higher 
ones. 

Dr. Wolf places the limit of the highest pitch 
of all self-sounding consonants, spoken in connec- 
tion with higher sounds of speech, a whole octave 
above that of their individual proper tone. But 
the results of our most careful investigations do 
not go beyond a fifth or sixth. 

Most of those who have written upon Speech 
have invented names and divisions for the dif- 
ferent classes of sounds made in speaking. Dr. 
Wolf arranges the consonants according to their 
musical character into four groups, which I shall 
adopt, and which are as follows : 

I. The simple self-sounding consonants, which 
can be sounded purely and independently of the 
vowels. These are r, hard ch, b, p, g, h, d, t, f, v, 
s, and the soft g and ch. 

II. The compound self- sounding consonants, 
such as sch, x, z. 

III. The simple tone-borrowing consonants, 
which borrow their musical sound from a vowel 
sound and are distinctly audible only in con- 
nection with it, as h, I, m, n. 

TV. The compound tone-borrowing consonant, 
which is the w. 



THE CONSONANTS. 37 

In the formation of all the consonants there is 
found somewhere in the cavity of the mouth an 
enclosure or narrower space, against and through 
which the exhaled breath presses, and so is pro- 
duced a distinct noise quite independent of their 
musical proper tone. The pitch of the musical 
tone which accompanies this noise is dependent 
upon the size of the resonant space in the cavity 
of the mouth, which space is largest in b and p 
and smallest in s. 



I. The Simple Self-sounding Consonants. 

THE B AND P SOUNDS. 

To form the b sound the lips are first firmly 
closed, and the breath, compressed as much as pos- 
sible, is forced against them. The lips then part- 
ing by a rapid movement, the confined air escapes 
with a sudden puff, like a miniature explosion. 

Given the same disposition of the mouth and 
the action just described for the formation of the 
b sound, only executed with more force and 
energy, and we have the p sound, the proper 
tone of both these consonants being very nearly 



38 THE VOICE TN SPEAKING. 

one and the same; at the most the pitch of p 
is the higher by something more than half a 
tone. 

The tone to which in b the air in the cavity of 
the mouth is tuned has 320 vibrations in a second, 
and comes nearest to the note e with 323J vibra- 
tions (natural pitch). The p has 346 vibrations, 
and comes near to the f with 344J vibrations. 



B P 



m 



r 



When the disposition of the mouth for the 
formation of the sound b is kept unchanged, one 
may easily satisfy himself in regard to its pitch 
by snapping the finger against the cheek. One 
may also by the same means distinguish the proper 
tones of the vowels. For most of the consonants, 
however, the cavity of the mouth is too small 
to allow their proper tones to be heard in this 
manner. 

THE G AKD K SOUNDS. 
The part played by the lips in the formation 
of b and p as above described, in the case of g 
and h devolves upon the body of the tongue; 



THE CONSONANTS. 39 

these sounds being formed by its pressure against 
the roof of the mouth and quick withdrawal from 
it, the point of impact being found more or less 
farther back in the mouth as the modes of speak- 
ing vary with different peoples and in different 
languages, without any influence on the pitch of 
its proper tone. As in the case of p as com- 
pared with 6, the h has a higher pitch than 
g by something more than half a tone, which 
is due to the greater force required in its for- 
mation. The proper tone of g has 576 vibra- 
tions, and comes nearest to the note d, which 
has 582; while Jc has 616, nearest to ke with 
6 14 J vibrations. 



limit 




G K 



THE D AND T SOUNDS. 
As with b and p it is the lips and with g and 
k the body of the tongue that are brought into 
requisition, so in the case of d and t it is the tip 
of the tongue that makes the enclosure, by first 
pressing against the upper front teeth and then 



40 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

quickly withdrawing with a snap, thus letting the 
confined air escape, both the lips and the upper 
and lower teeth being slightly parted. Their 
proper tones are likewise almost the same, that 
of t being the higher by about half a tone, and 
for the same reason as before given. 

The proper tone of d has 720 vibrations, and 
lies nearest to % which has 726, while t has 
768, lying nearest to g with 776 vibrations. 



DT 



ifg- limit 



The six consonants described above are all 
formed in precisely the same way, by the pressure 
and sudden withdrawal of the lips, by the body 
and by the tip of the tongue. 

THE V AND F SOUNDS. 
These sounds are made when the under lip, 
pressed against the front upper teeth, forms with 
the upper lip in the middle of the mouth a 
small opening, on the edges of which the stream 
of breath, inhaled or exhaled, breaks and is set 



THE CONSONANTS. 41 

vibrating. The air pressing through this little 
opening forms the sound of /. By a weaker 
expulsion of the air there is produced the German 
v. The difference between these two sounds de- 
pends only upon the stronger or weaker impulse 
given to the breath. The noise, however, accom- 
panying the/ is attended by a greater number of 
high inharmonic overtones, which are formed at 
the opening of the mouth. The pitch of / with 
862 vibrations is like the a of the natural pitch 
with 864 vibrations. 



•&L limit 

£=1 



i 



THE S SOUND. 
Like the /, the s is formed by the emission 
of the breath. While the tongue lies near to the 
lower teeth and the lips are parted, the air is 
driven between the upper and lower teeth. As 
the tongue thereby is somewhat raised, and the 
upper and lower teeth are brought together, there 
remains for the sound of s in the cavity of the 
mouth only a very narrow space, whence it natu- 
5 



42 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



rally follows that the pitch of this consonant is 
very high. By a gentle emission of the air the 
sound of s has 3700 vibrations, being nearest 
to b b with 3666 vibrations. 



# 




bb 



limit 



THE SOFT G AND CH SOUNDS. 
These sounds, as they are given in German 
after e and i y do not occur in the English lan- 
guage. They are likewise formed by expelling 
the compressed air through a narrow passage 
formed by the pressure of the tongue against the 
roof of the mouth, in such a manner that the 
middle of the tongue is lowered from the back 
towards the front, and a narrow, pipe-shaped 
opening is formed for the passing air. In form- 
ing these narrow passages the points of impact are 
different in different persons and countries, being 
more or less forward in the mouth. The cavity 
of the mouth has in the soft g and ch the same 



THE CONSONANTS. 43 

pitch as the vowel i, namely, the d with 2328 
vibrations. 

qe limit 



G CH 



I 



d a 



The hard ch, as in the German words machen, 
lachen, etc., is formed by pressing the root of the 
tongue against the roof of the mouth, expelling 
the breath at the same time; thus very differ- 
ently from the soft ch in the words Bciche, ich, 
gluchlich, etc. If the quick movement which the 
root of the tongue makes in forming the ch be 
made energetically and very far back in the 
mouth, the palate is set vibrating by the impulse 
of a stronger stream of air, and there instantly 
comes the soimd of r as it is heard in the North of 
Germany and in English. This is the so-called 
uvular or palatal r. The proper tone of the hard 
ch is the same as that of the palatal r. Its pitch 
will be given hereafter when we come to speak of 
the latter. The above-described manner of form- 
ing the hard ch as well as the palatal r, inas- 
much as it takes place so far back in the mouth, 



44 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

is very unfavorable to a good development of the 
speaking voice, and especially, as we shall see by- 
and-by, to its reach. In English the hard ch does 
not occur, and it is certainly for all English-speak- 
ing persons who are learning to speak German the 
most difficult to imitate correctly. 

I have often been asked why German dramatic 
artists pronounce the hard ch as if it were 
equivalent to the English sh 9 and I have found 
that precisely those among our German actors 
who use the vocal organ in the most correct and 
beautiful way, in the endeavor to give more reach 
to this unfavorable sound, form it unconsciously 
farther forward in the mouth, where the position 
and pitch of the cavity of the mouth are such as 
to produce the sh. 

THE R SOUND. THE LINGUAL R. 
As the uvular r is produced by the vibrations 
of the uvula, so the lingual r is formed by the 
vibrations of the tip of the tongue. When the 
tongue is allowed to be in the same position in 
which the sound of d is produced, and the tip 
of the tongue is raised and set vibrating by the 
breath, we can distinguish in the rattling, intermit- 



THE CONSONANTS. 45 

ting sound of r certain other very low sounds. 
According to Wolf, in the uvular r the low c 

with 16 J vibrations is produced most strongly. 
In the lingual r comes the C with 33 vibrations. 
With these lowest tones he found several 
overtones, of which he distinguishes the C with 
129 vibrations as the proper tone of the r. The 
lowest tone mentioned by Wolf the ear cannot 
distinctly perceive. According to our investi- 
gations, the C with 64 vibrations is the proper 
tone of the lingual r; and for the uvular r, D 
with 72A- vibrations. 



Lingual R n jTi: 
Palatal BF= 



C 



II. The Compound Self-sounding Conso- 
nants. 

THE GEKMAN SCH OK ENGLISH SH. 
In the formation of the seh (sh) the vocal ap- 
paratus is adapted at one and the same moment to 
the utterance of two different consonants. There 
are created in the mouth two narrow passages 
through which the air is expelled: the one like 
5* 



46 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

that which is made forward in the mouth for s, 
the other as in forming the German hard ch, the 
root of the tongue being pressed against the roof 
of the mouth, and its edges lying round in con- 
tact with the teeth, while the centre is raised, so 
that the resonance-space between the two passages 
is enlarged. It is evident that by the breaking 
of the stream of air at two different places two 
different sounds are made ; but, as one can in a 
flute clearly distinguish two tones, one of which, 
the flute-tone, is produced in the hollow space of 
the instrument by the vibrations of the air, the 
other by the breaking of the stream of air on 
the sharp edges of the aperture, so in pro- 
nouncing the sch what one hears is in reality three 
tones, — the d formed in the cavity of the mouth, 

the b b formed by the breaking of the air on the 

teeth, and a third resultant tone, which is pro- 
duced in the air by the other two sounding to- 
gether, and which is the f. The d has 2328 

vibrations, the *b 3666, and the f 1378. This 

third tone is often so prominent that one hears 
very clearly the fourth sixth chord of B^ major. 



THE CONSONANTS. 47 




SCH 



A stronger expulsion of the breath in uttering 
the sh causes the vowel t to be heard quite plainly 
sounding with it, because the pitch of the cavity of 
the mouth is the same as that of this vowel. The 
English ch is composed of the sounds of t and sh. 

In the English th, which is composed of two 
sounds, of which one is produced by the striking 
and the other by the friction of the air, — i.e., the t 
and a sound similar to the s, — the cavity of the 
mouth is tuned to the proper tone of the sound 
of t; for, instead of the tip of the tongue lying, 
as in the s, near the lower teeth so that the breath 
can pass unimpeded between, in forming th it 
continues, after bringing out by a sudden stroke 
the sound of t to be raised in the same place, and 
thus forms a narrow passage through which the 
expelled air must pass before it presses through 
the narrow slits between the teeth. 

The German z and x are likewise two com- 
pound sounds, which, however, are heard one 
after the other in rapid succession, of which one 



48 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

is produced by the striking and the other by the 
friction of the air. In the z, s follows t; in the 
x, s follows k, the proper tones of which have 
already been given. 

III. The Simple Tone-borrowing Conso- 
nants. 

THE H. 
H has no proper musical tone, and can be heard 
only in connection with a vowel. The Greeks did 
not hold A to be a consonant. In its formation 
there is nowhere in the mouth any enclosure, or, 
indeed, any obstacle to the passage of the breath, 
producing the noises by which the other consonants 
are accompanied. The h is thus nothing more 
than the breath itself more vigorously expelled and 
driven along the walls of the mouth and the cavity 
of the larynx, as is the case when the action of the 
lungs is increased by running or fast walking. 

THE L. 

L is formed, like d, with the tip of the tongue ; 

but, while in d the point of the tongue is put in 

contact with the upper teeth and the roof of the 

mouth and then suddenly withdrawn, allowing 



THE CONSONANTS. 49 

the compressed air to escape, in I the tongue 
slowly touches the same places forward in the 
mouth, and allows the breath to flow quietly out, 
only slightly kept back. The air thus detained 
divides and streams out on both sides of the 
tongue along the cheeks towards the opening of 
the mouth. L, like h } has no proper tone, which 
is evident from the slow movement of the tongue 
and the division of the stream of air. So soon, 
however, as any tone sounds with it the I sounds 
also, and, although the cavity of the mouth is not 
in accord with any proper tone, one hears a tone 
similar to that of the vowel i, often entirely con- 
cealing the I. This peculiarity of the I may be the 
reason why it is often considered as a semi-vowel. 
According to Valentin, the Romanic languages 
appear to regard I in this light, often using i in 
place of it : as, for example, planus (Latin), 
piano (Italian), flos (Latin), jiore (Italian), etc. 

THE M AND N. 
These two so-called resonants are in their forma- 
tion very much alike. According to Czermak's 
investigations of the utterance of the vowels, the 
palate is so raised that no air, or only a very little, 



50 THE VOICE IN SPEAKIXG. 

can pass out through the nose. In the utterance 
of m and n, on the contrary, the palate is so 
placed that the larger portion of the breath passes 
through the nose. The resonance, then, for these 
sounds is mostly in the space above the soft 
palate. M and n have no audible tone of their 
own, and can be considered only as, so to speak, 
grace-notes before or after the tone of the vowel. 
They cannot be used in connection with conso- 
nants, because they are heard distinctly only when 
joined to vowels. Neither have they, like the other 
consonants, any independent characteristic noises: 
they depend entirely upon their resonance. When 
one attempts with the whispering voice, that is, 
without the help of the tones of the larynx, to pro- 
nounce m and ?i, only a sort of audible breath is 
perceived, generated by the friction of the air in 
the nasal cavities. In forming these soimds, the 
way for the air through the mouth is entirely 
closed, and opens only through the nose. The 
m is formed when, as in the case of 6, the lips 
are shut, and instead of allowing the compressed 
breath, by a sudden motion, to escape, the lips 
are kept closed and the air passes out through 
the nose. When, on the other hand, having the 



THE CONSONANTS. 51 

mouth in the same position as in forming d, the 
enclosure in the mouth is formed by the tip of the 
tongue pressed against the upper teeth, there is 
produced the sound of n. According to Helm- 
holtz, through the changing position of the soft 
palate a larger quantity of air passes through the 
nose in the formation of ra, and a less in that of n. 
A marked difference between m and n is perceived 
only when a vowel sounds before or after them. 

IV. The Compound Tone-borrowing Con- 
sonant. 

The sound of w in German is, according to 
Briicke, the mingling of a consonant and a vowel. 
The German w, like m and n, cannot be heard 
without an audible vowel sound. When it is 
uttered audibly there is heard a weak sound of w. 
Let the mouth take the same position as in the 
formation of /, and let the sound, shorter and 
weaker, be joined at the same time with the vowel 
u, the mouth being quietly opened wide, and we 
have the German w. The English w (double u) is a 
sound between the pure u and the German w ; it is 
heard when one begins to sound the vowel u and 
then gradually contracts the cavity of the mouth. 



52 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



A TABULAR STATEMENT OF THE PITCH OF THE 
SELF-SOUNDING SPEAKING SOUNDS. 



WOLF. 

ounds. Pitch. 

R CCCc | <w: Eg 



3 



u t m 



^i 



BP 



fe^ 



SELLER. 



Pitch. 
CD 



g 



w 



^m 



^ 



^ g 



*=^ 



422. limit 



GK d 



DT % 



VF a 



A b b 



w 



i 
• 



$22. limit 



limit 



^ 



fe 



|^ 



# 



P 



d*e 



I 



S 



*=£"■* 



up 

ttfi 



4=2-42: 



limit 



limit 



P^ 



THE CONSONANTS. 



53 



Speaking 
bounds. 



WOLF. 



Pitch. 



- 1 1 r — i 



? 



*b 



_= ^^ 



if 



I 



S C H ad f f 



$ 






SEILER. 



Pitch. 



* 



d&z 



$ 



$ 



h{z> limit 



te i= 



%%^ 



!# 



8 8 8 8 



"If 



iS 



54 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

Although it is attempted in the foregoing 
table to give the pitch of the several proper 
tones of our speaking sounds as accurately as pos- 
sible, this is not, however, I conceive, essential. 
The main point is this: That most of the conso- 
nants, as well as all the vowels, have distinct tones 
of their own, characteristic of each, to which the 
cavity of the mouth is tuned, as we have shown; 
and, furthermore, that these proper tones »f the 
speaking sounds, independently of age and sex, keep 
approximately the same pitch in the speech of all 
human beings. Consonants are not, therefore, as 
has hitherto been assumed, indefinite noises. As 
with the vowels, the main fact is the proper tone 
of the sound forming in the cavity of the mouth ; 
the larger portion of the air is employed in the 
formation of this proper musical tone with its 
regular vibrations, and only the lesser portion 
breaks upon the obstacles which it meets, thus 
becoming noise with irregular vibrations and dis- 
sonant overtones. 

The tone in the cavity of the mouth gives 
to the vowels their characteristic timbre, and is 
more prominent and perceptible than their accom- 
panying noises. But the consonants derive their 



THE CONSONANTS. 55 

peculiar character from their noises, which are so 
prominent that their proper tones have hitherto 
escaped observation. Differ ever so much as 
nations may in speech, still, vowels and consonants 
ever alternate, the one with the other, and indeed 
mostly in such a way that the cavity of the mouth 
is not forced to too great a change in its tuning. 
Thus they mutually relieve one another, so that 
the speaking organs are less fatigued, and with the 
same impulse of breath are able to produce a great 
many different sounds. 

The words which we put into sentences in 
speaking are composed of syllables. A syllable 
consists of one vowel sound, or two vowel sounds 
immediately following each other, and one or more 
consonants. The vowels require for their char- 
acteristic tones a larger space in the mouth than 
the consonants, and while the mouth is tuned and 
untuned for the vowel sound of a syllable, the 
parts of the mouth on their way forward and 
backward form the consonants belonging to the 
syllable. In other words, a syllable is a group of 
speaking sounds produced by one pulse of breath, 
with various quickly succeeding movements of 
the speaking mechanism, the mouth opening and 



56 T ^E VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

closing for the tuning or untuning of the vowel. 
It is on this account difficult to pronounce two 
consonants, similarly formed, coming close to- 
gether in the same syllable, as, for instance, d 
and h, and impossible to form double consonants 
in the same syllables, as U, pp ; but it instantly 
becomes easy when they are separated by a vowel, 
as tat, pep, etc. 

When, for example, the syllable run is pro- 
nounced, the tip of the tongue, while the cavity of 
the mouth sets itself in tune for the u, forms the 
r ; and as it untunes itself the mouth closes with 
the n, with which the syllable is ended. And 
for the speaking of another syllable there is re- 
quired a new opening of the mouth and a new 
pulse of the breath. 

In looking over the proper tones of the sounds 
in speech, we find that the lowest, the tone of r, 
the C \& I i s separated full six octaves from 



$ 



the b b 1 x L the proper tone of s. 



When one considers the vast compass in which 
the proper tones of the speaking sounds range, in 



THE CONSONANTS. 57 

reference to the manifold movements made in 
forming the noises which accompany them, and 
the rapidity and certainty with which all these 
variations of activities are carried on, the vast capa- 
bility of the speaking organ seems hardly conceiv- 
able. There is certainly no artificial instrument 
that approaches it in this respect. And the greatest 
artist, if such an instrument were put into his 
hands, would be utterly unable to overcome the 
difficulties which we in speaking unconsciously 
make light of every day. 

The whispering voice, with which we are able 
to make ourselves heard within narrow limits, 
consists merely of the tones and noises of the 
cavity of the mouth made with a quiet flow of 
the breath. Only in speaking aloud are these 
tones and noises supported by the tones produced 
by the vibrating vocal cords in the larynx, and 
which give to speech fulness, melody, and reach. 
Our common speaking, therefore, is to be regarded 
as the result of the combined action of two dif- 
ferent instruments, which also act separately; the 
tones and noises made in the cavity of the mouth 
alone, that is, the speaking sounds, as in the whis- 
pering voice, are made by one of these instruments, 
6* 



58 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

and the musical tones of the vocal cords, as in 
singing without words, by the other.* In speaking 
aloud, and in singing with words, both instruments 

* It lias recently been proved by several cases that dis- 
tinct, although soft and low, speaking is possible even when 
the larynx is closed so that no breath passes through it. 
The air contained in the mouth alone can be applied to the 
production of speech when no assistance can be had from 
the larynx. Through the kindness of Prof. Stork, of 
Vienna, my son was made acquainted with a case in 
point. A patient in the insane-asylum in that city cut her 
throat and wounded the vocal cords, which, in healing, 
grew together so that she could not breathe, and it was 
necessary to introduce a small tube into the windpipe 
below the larynx to keep her from suffocating. After 
some months she began to speak, and yet no opening of the 
glottis could be discovered with the laryngoscope. The 
opinion of Prof. Stork, that the patient was enabled to 
speak, by means of the air in the mouth and nasal cavities 
alone, was opposed by many of his colleagues, who in- 
sisted that there must be some opening between the vocal 
cords. In a second attempt the patient succeeded in kill- 
ing herself, and a post-mortem examination revealed the 
fact that the vocal cords had so grown together that 
neither water nor air could pass through them. At the 
suggestion of Prof. Stork, a young man undertook to prac- 
tise in speaking with a closed glottis, and, to make sure 
that no air was allowed to pass through it before speak- 
ing in the above-mentioned way, he inhaled the smoke 



THE CONSONANTS. 59 

are employed. All the characteristic tones and 
noises of our speaking sounds, as they are formed in 
the mouth and shown in the whispering voice, be- 
come, when spoken aloud, supported and strength- 
en a cigarette. The closest observation could not detect 
any escape of the smoke thus inhaled. 

Prof. Valentin and Dr. Wolf also mention each a 
case in which, in consequence of unsuccessful attempts at 
suicide, the glottis had so grown together that the breath- 
ing had to be through a small silver tube, which was intro- 
duced between the two uppermost rings of the windpipe. 
As soon as this little tube was closed by the finger, instantly 
there came a fit of suffocation. In both cases the sufferers 
learned by degrees to make themselves understood, al- 
though only in a whisper. The sounds that they made 
most distinctly were b, p, g, k,f, d, t, s, sch. The vowels 
were more difficult, and could be uttered only in connec- 
tion with other sounds, and it was the same with m, n, 
h, I, r. These last were diflicult, because the air in the 
mouth, not being increased by the breath from the lungs, 
did not suffice for their formation. Of the vowels, t was 
the easiest. 

Speaking is also possible even without the tongue, for 
there are cases on record in which the whole of the tongue 
had been removed by a surgical operation, and still the 
patients were able to articulate, with the exception of those 
consonants which are produced by the tip of the tongue.* 

* Tongue not Essential to Speech, by Twieleton, London. 



60 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

ened by musical tones. These musical tones, ac- 
cording to their own laws, are produced with great 
rapidity and certainty by the vocal cords in the 
larynx. And to them we give in speaking a cer- 
tain musical arrangement, according to the emotion 
for which we seek expression. 

Musical tones have thus their own instrument, 
different from that of the speaking sounds as 
shown in the whispering voice; and the action 
of this instrument will be described in the fol- 
lowing chapter. 

It is here for the first time that this path has 
been trodden in the study of the speaking voice, 
by which the fact is arrived at that it is the 
combined result of two wholly different actions 
of our vocal organs. That hitherto in all the in- 
vestigations of this subject, sounds of Speech as 
heard in the whispering voice have never been 
separated from the vocal tones, and that the two 
actions, so very different from each other, have 
been studied together and considered only as one, 
is owing, I suppose, to the fact that it is but 
recently that Science has turned its attention in 
this direction at all. Up to this hour, in all that 
has been written on the subject, the voice has been 



THE CONSONANTS. Q\ 

treated almost exclusively from the aesthetic side: 
that is, expression in speaking has mostly been 
considered, while the physiology of the voice, 
owing to the obscurity in which the subject was 
involved, has been almost entirely neglected. 

My son, Dr. Carl Seiler, has rendered me great 
assistance both in determining the proper tones 
of speaking sounds as given in the foregoing 
pages and in executing the drawings for this 
book. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE VOCAL TONES. 

rflHE laryngoscope was hardly invented before 
it came to be widely known and used; 
and many persons, without the necessary musical 
or scientific qualifications therefor, have under- 
taken to observe with it the mechanism whereby 
tones are produced in the larynx. Many results 
of such superficial observations have been pub- 
lished even as new discoveries, and systems of 
teaching have been founded thereon.* 

* A physician who handled the laryngoscope with great 
skill affirmed that the mechanism in the larynx was the 
same for all the registers of the voice, and a singing 
teacher instantly published a manual based upon this 
strange assertion. As a proof of the correctness thereof, 
they sang to me the scale up and down, and really suc- 
ceeded in singing within the compass of two octaves, with 
the second chest-register. The gentlemen did not appear 
to be aware that these unnaturally produced tones were 
wholly devoid of musical character. 
62 



THE VOCAL TONES. 63 

Every one who in any department of science 
seeks with an honest zeal for truth knows how 
such inexactly observed facts, instead of promoting 
knowledge, always hinder its progress. On this 
account, it is proper that I should briefly state 
the way in which I have investigated the vocal 
tones and the mode of their production. 

When I proposed to myself to study more care- 
fully the mechanism of the human voice, it did 
not escape my attention that the tones of one and 
the same voice are divided into groups, the pecu- 
liar timbre of which shows a more or less ob- 
servable difference. But before I permitted myself 
to attempt, by the help of the laryngoscope, to 
seek for the cause of this fact, I considered it 
indispensably necessary first to know what was to 
be understood by a perfectly correct natural tone 
of voice, and also to learn to sing such tones. 
By the kindness of Prof. Helmholtz, I became 
acquainted with the physical conditions upon 
which pure musical tones depend, and, after long- 
continued practice, I succeeded in producing such 
tones and in making them habitual. Not until I 
had prepared myself by years of faithful study, and 
knew the several physical sensations accompany- 



64 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

ing a perfectly natural musical tone in the dif- 
ferent groups, did I begin to observe in myself, 
with the laryngoscope, the movements in the 
larynx during the production of tones. In order 
to draw correct conclusions from such observa- 
tion, attention must be specially directed to the 
physical sensations which, in a correct position of 
the 'mouth, accompany the formation of a perfect 
musical tone. For, in using the laryngoscope, the 
mouth must be opened very wide, and all its parts 
be so drawn aside and so posed that a full view 
of the glottis shall be afforded. As in this way the 
resonance and reflexion in the cavity of the mouth 
become disturbed, it is not possible to distinguish 
the different groups of tones by their timbre alone. 
When I succeeded at last in obtaining such com- 
mand of the parts of the mouth that I could see 
the whole glottis, I always found the same move- 
ments in the formation of the same tones, changing 
and returning in the same manner. I then sought 
to make like observation in others, and selected 
for the purpose persons who never had had any 
instruction in singing, and whose voices were con- 
sequently entirely natural. Professional singers, 
or such as had received instruction in singing as 



THE VOCAL TONES. g5 

it is commonly given, I found for the most part to 
be wholly unfit for the desired observation. For, 
with a few distinguished exceptions, the voices of 
such singers are so artificially vitiated that they 
are no longer in a natural normal condition. The 
results of the observation of such voices would 
belong to the class of facts inexactly observed, from 
which every honest inquirer cannot keep too far 
aloof.* 

The larynx is the funnel-shaped termination of 
the windpipe, widening upwards. It consists of 
differently-shaped cartilages, more or less movable, 
ligaments, and muscles. The case of the larynx 
consists of the thyroid cartilage (a) and the cricoid 
cartilage (6), as the following drawing of a larynx 
(Fig. I.), somewhat reduced, shows. The inte- 
rior of the larynx consists of the arytenoid carti- 
lages, the cartilages of Wrisberg, the two pairs of 
vocal cords, the cartilages of Santorini, and the 
cuneiform cartilages. 

The cuneiform cartilages reach from the vocal 

* In The Voice in Singing, the laryngoscope, as well 
as the way in which it is to be used, is described, and what 
is stated there need not be repeated here, since this method 
of observation is generally known. 
7 



66 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



process of the arytenoid cartilage, within the edges 
of the vocal cords, half the length of the same. 



Fig. I.— The Larynx. 





a. Epiglottis, b. Thyroid Cartilage, c. Cricoid Cartilage, d. Trachea. 

In the drawing (Fig. III.) we see,* stretched from 
the anterior surface of the arytenoid cartilages 
extending towards the centre of the inner wall of 



* The Voice in Singing (Appendix). 



77/ E VOCAL TONES. 



()7 



the thyroid cartilage, the two pairs of cords, con- 
sisting of folds of the mucous membrane which 

Fig. II. — The Interior of the Larynx in Quiet 
Breathing and in Whispering. 




a. Arytenoid Cartilages. Ik Vocal Cords, c. Epiglottis. <J. Trachea. 



Fig. III. — The Interior of the Larynx in the 
Formation of Tones in Speaking Aloud. 

c 




a. Vocal Cords, b. False Vocal Cords, c. Epiglottis, d. Arytenoid 
Cartilages, t. Wriaberg Cartilages. 



63 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

lines the whole larynx. The two lower of these 
cords (a, a, Figs. II., III.), the vocal cords 
strictly so called, into which the cuneiform carti- 
lages project, have their points of attachment at 
the arytenoid cartilages, somewhat lower than the 
upper pair. 

Each of these parallel pairs of cords forms, 
between their edges, a slit running antero-pos- 
teriorly. The lower, or true vocal cords, approach 
in vocalization to close contact, while the upper 
cords scarcely move, and leave a wide elliptical 
opening between them. As the upper cords have 
their points of attachment posteriorly and higher, 
they form with the lower cords two lateral cavi- 
ties, the ventricles. The two pairs of cords, 
therefore, are the free interior edges of the mem- 
brane lining the whole larynx, and extending into 
it to the right and left. 

Only the lower vocal cords serve directly for the 
generation of sound. More or less stretched, and 
presenting resistance to the air forcibly expelled 
from the lungs through the trachea, they are thus 
made to vibrate. The upper or false vocal cords 
do not co-operate with them to generate tone, but, 
like all the remaining parts of the mouth and 



THE VOCAL TONES. (J 9 

throat, belong to the resonance apparatus of the 
voice, to which also appertains the back part of 
the mouth, the pharynx, above the oesophagus, 
i.e., the throat or gullet. This is separated from 
the anterior cavity of the mouth by the soft palate, 
the form and place of which in the mouth every 
one knows.* 

When a normal voice utters its lowest tones 

Woman's Voice. Man's Voice. 



9 



m 



|=§=i r~ j J J 



upon the vowel a, as it is pronounced in the Ger- 
man word Bar (English bear), — this being the 
vowel sound most favorable for observation, — the 
following may be observed in the mirror : 

The arytenoid cartilages, with great rapidity, 
raise their points, the cartilages of Santorini, 



* The reader, if particularly interested in the anatomy 
of the vocal organ, is referred for a more minute descrip- 
tion of it to the Appendix to The Voice in Singing, and 
to any Manual of Anatomy. I have given above only 
what is necessary in treating of the character of those 
parts of the larynx which co-operate in the formation of 
sound. 

7* 



70 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

in their mucous membranous covering, and close 
firmly together, as is shown in Fig. III. In like 
manner, with equal swiftness, the vocal cords ap- 
proach each other, until their edges touch through 
their entire length. The upper, or false vocal 
cords, likewise approach each other, leaving, how- 
ever, as may be seen in the drawing, a relatively 
wide, elliptically-shaped space between them. 

When the scale is slowly sung upward legato, 
step by step, the above-described movement of 
the arytenoid cartilages and the vocal cords is 
repeated with every new tone, partly separating 
and quickly closing again. The vocal cords, in 
the production of the lowest tones of the voice, 
are moved through their whole length and breadth 
by large, loose vibrations, which are communi- 
cated also to the other parts of the interior of the 
larynx. 

With every higher tone the glottis* is some- 
what shortened, and the vocal cords are more 
and more stretched. The raising of the pitch is 
thus effected by the greater stretching and short- 
ening to a certain point. 

* The glottis is the narrow slit hetween the two vocal 
cords and the arytenoid cartilages. 



The first chest register 
of the male voice. 



THE VOCAL TONES. 71 



B 



i^^HH 



The first chest register of the 
female voice. 



^V^ + J ^ 



With the bb F ^jf i J in the man's voice, and 



the *c ^ r-A in the woman's, another action of 



P 3 



the vocal cords suddenly comes in. They appear 
again to be as relaxed as in the forming of the 
lowest tones of the above-mentioned group, and to 
be moved in their whole length and breadth by 
large, loose vibrations ; in going up the scale, the 
arytenoid cartilages, then firmly closed, as well as 
the other parts of the interior of the larynx, are 
unmoved. But by the closing of these cartilages 
the glottis is shortened about one-third. In sing- 
ing the scale upward legato, the vocal cords now 
alone move, being more and more stretched and 
shortened with every higher tone, just as in the 
above-described lowest register of the voice, that is, 
in the first series of the chest register. The move- 
ment of the second series of the chest register con- 
tinues up to *f in every human voice, whether of 
man, woman, or child. This *f is the point of 



72 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

transition from the chest tones to the falsetto 
tones. 



Second chest register of 
man's voice. 



Second chest register of 
•women and children. 



W=t 






$ 



'-&=£ 



That this s f (fy ff J is the natural point of 



transition, in all voices, from the chest voice 
to the falsetto, was known to the old Italian 



singing masters; for the a | (fl> -J | , by which 



instruments are usually tuned, and which was 
regarded by them as the highest chest tone, had, 
two hundred and fifty years ago, 370 vibrations, 
the same number as our present £ f. 

With the rise and development of instrumental 
music, the orchestra pitch has steadily but quite 
imperceptibly risen higher and higher, as stringed 
instruments sound more beautifully when higher 
tuned. In the year 1700, the a had 410 vibrations, 
and to-day, here in America, from 450 to 458, 
in Germany and France 435, i.e., just half a tone 
lower than in this country. But as, while the 
pitch has thus been rising, human voices continue 



77/ a; vocal tones. 73 

the same, it is very natural that a can no 
longer be sung with the chest register, as was the 
rule in former times, lying as it now does so far 
above the natural limit of the chest register. As 
soon as, in singing the scale upward, the *f is 
passed, instantly with the g the glottis again takes 
part in its whole length. 

While, however, in the production of the tones 
of the two chest registers the vocal cords are seen 
to be moved by large, loose vibrations through 
their whole length and breadth, when the voice 
enters the falsetto register, only their fine inner 
edges are seen to be vibrating. While the ary- 
tenoid cartilages separate and quickly close with 
every new tone, higher or lower, of this group, 
just as in the case of the lowest series of the chest 
register, the vocal cords shorten with every 
higher gradation of tone, and show greater tension 
up to the be in man's voice and to the *c in 



First Falsetto Register. 



frrrrf 



First Falsetto Register 



'■ ^r-m- 



Man's Voice. 



Woman's Voice 



74 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

At these points of the scale the arytenoid car- 
tilages are instantly firmly closed again, whereby 
the glottis appears shortened a third, as in the 
transition from the first to the second chest reg- 
ister. The vocal cords again relax their tension 
just as suddenly, only their fine inner edges 
vibrating, as in the first falsetto register, and as 
in the other registers, shortening and stretching 
more and more with every higher gradation of 
tone to *f, at which tone the head voice in women 
and children begins. 



Second Falsetto Eegister. 



p=r=F=* 



Woman's Voice. 



The second falsetto register of man's voice is 
commonly thin, and is very rarely used. The 
head tones belong almost exclusively to women 
and children, and are found only very rarely in 
men's voices. The head voice embraces five to 
ten tones, and comes from a repeated partial 
closing of the glottis. The fine elastic pair of 
cartilages, the cuneiform cartilages, which are 
hidden within the mucous membrane of the vocal 
cords, extend from the arytenoid cartilages half 
the length of the vocal cords. In the head tones 



THE VOCAL TONES. 



75 



they close firmly together with the arytenoid carti- 
lages, just as the arytenoid cartilages do in the 

Fig. IV. — The Interior of the Larynx giving the 
Head Tones. 







a. Vocal Cords, b. Arytenoid Cartilage. c. False Vocal Cords. 
d. Cuneiform Cartilage, e. Epiglottis. 

first chest and the first falsetto register. Hence 
there appears, forward, directly under the epi- 
glottis, an oval opening, which with every higher 
tone grows smaller and rounder, and the fine 
vibrating edges of which produce the highest tones 
of the voice as seen in Fig. IV. 



Head tones of women'; 
and children's voices. 



i^m 



^^^g- 



76 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



These two registers, the second falsetto and the 
head register, are not used in speaking even by 
women, but only by little children. The move- 
ments of the vocal cords above described, in the 
different groups of tones or registers, always 
change at the same tone of the scale in all men's 
voices, whether the voice be deep or high. The 
transition from the first to the second chest reg- 



ister in man s voice is 



at *>b 



HEfe 



and in 



woman's voice at *c 



9 



"ISr 



whether it be a 



soprano or an alto. The difference in voices lies 
only in the greater fulness and beauty of the higher 
or lower registers, which registers usually are the 
easiest and most natural. 



THE VOCAL TONES. 



77 



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78 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

As soon as it is attempted to transcend these 
natural limits of the registers in singing the as- 
cending scale with the same action in the larynx, 
there can instantly be perceived in the mirror 
an effort of the organ, of which the singer him- 
self, when he turns his attention to it, is con- 
scious. This strain is seen and felt to increase 
with every higher tone, until it becomes utterly 
impossible to go any higher with the same action 
of the voice. On the other hand, when in grad- 
ually descending, keeping the action in the larynx 
unchanged, the lower boundary is passed, there is 
felt, and it is also visible, a relaxation of the 
organs. The tones, however, are less full and 
sonorous than those generated by the correct 
action, and it is less injurious to the voice than 
the transgression of the limits in the ascending 
scale. In correct natural singing the different 
registers may be recognized by certain distinct 
physical sensations. When the lowest tones of the 
chest register are sung with a moderate expendi- 
ture of breath, or are used in speaking, a tremor 
is felt through the whole body. This is felt 
coming from the place where the lungs, rilled 
through their whole extent with air, exert a slight 



THE VOCAL TONES. 



79 



pressure upon the diaphragm and the parts lying 
below it. The sensation is less, however, as soon 
as the breath is exhaled with greater force, which 
is explained in the following manner : 
Fig. V. 




a. Thyroid Cartilage, b. Arytenoid Cartilage, c. Epiglottis, d. Cricoid 
Cartilage, e. Trachea. /. Bronchi. 

The windpipe consists of cartilaginous rings 
connected with one another and enclosed in an 



80 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

elastic membrane, forming a tube terminating at 
the upper end in the funnel-shaped larynx. These 
rings in the human windpipe are not complete, 
but their free ends are connected posteriorly by 
the enveloping membrane, by means of which 
arrangement the windpipe may be enlarged in its 
transverse diameter. In producing the tones of 
the lowest chest register, in which the whole vocal 
cords are set vibrating, and the vibrations are 
communicated to all the interior parts of the 
larynx, there is needed a very copious stream of 
air, flowing from all parts of the lungs, so that 
the windpipe, by this air alone, is dilated as much 
as possible, and a sensation is created as if the 
whole body took part in producing the tones. In 
the production of the tones of the second chest 
register, in which the windpipe returns to its usual 
size in quiet breathing, the feeling is as if the tones 
came froin the chest somewhat above the stomach. 
It is the place where the two bronchi coming from 
the lungs open into the windpipe, and where the 
two streams of air coming through the bronchi 
unite. 

The tones of the first falsetto register are felt as 
coming from the larynx ; those of the second fal- 



THE VOCAL TONES. %\ 

setto register seem to come quite from above, in 
the upper front part of the mouth; and the head- 
tones are felt as if they came clown from the fore- 
head. 

These physical sensations which, according to 
the difference of the registers and the various 
changing movements in the larynx, are so plainly 
felt, have given occasion to the most contradictory 
views in regard to the origin of the tones of the 
voice. But they really have no direct relation 
thereto. The different movements of the vocal 
organ require the action of different nerve-fibres 
and muscles by which the movements are made, 
and are often felt most strongly in remote parts of 
the body. It is, however, precisely these physical 
perceptions of the different registers which are 
an invaluable help towards the recognition of 
the correct use of the voice, and the avoidance of 
the unnatural and incorrect use of it ; and for this 
reason I have given so particular a description of 
them. 

In speaking, the sphere of the vocal tones is 
much more limited than in singing. AVomen use 
mostly the tones of the second chest and first fal- 
setto registers, sometimes, also, those of the first 
8* 



82 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

chest register. Men speak an octave lower than 
women, and use mostly the upper half of the first 
chest register. In public speaking, as well as 
upon the stage, the second chest register is used 
by men, and sometimes also the lowest tones of 
the voice. 

The most distinguished dramatic artists produce 
their most powerful effects with these lowest tones 
of the first chest register, the full, rich sound of 
which is best fitted to touch the tenderest chords 
of the soul ; and in women's voices, likewise, these 
tones have often a wondrously touching melody. 

USUAL RANGE OF THE VOCAL TONES OF WOMEN 
IN SPEAKING. 



1st chest register. 



i 



2d chest register. 



1st Falsetto register. 
-I 



J I 



r j j -w 



S 



-* *- 



^ -*- * 



USUAL RANGE OF THE VOCAL TONES OF MEN 
IN SPEAKING. 

First chest register. 



'& ==^=S=*^ifc 



T=f=^ 



1 r 



Little children speak only in the first and 
second falsetto registers. 



THE VOCAL TONES. 83 

In the foregoing examples the tones are desig- 
nated by notes, because in speaking -\ve have no 
signs for the vocal tones that are more exact. 
The tones which accompany the sounds in speech 
must not, however, be supposed to be as definite 
in regard to the number of their vibrations as 
the tones in singing. In speaking, the tones go 
up and down quite irregularly, not at all confined 
to the distinctly defined gradations of musical 
tones and intervals, but moving about in the most 
various ways between them. 

The most perfect vocal tones, even in singing, 
as well as the tones of all musical instruments, are 
always more or less accompanied by noises. But, 
as Helmholtz remarks, "in listening to music 
we are not accustomed to notice the accompany- 
ing noises." The drawing of the bow across the 
strings of the violin, the striking of the breath 
against sharp edges in wind instruments, etc., 
are all noises. 

Without vowel sounds it is impossible to sing 
a tone, and, as has already been observed, even the 
most sonorous vowel sound is attended by noise, 
which, it is true, in a tone perfectly sung, can be 
heard only by great attention. In speaking, on 



34 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

the contrary, the noises are so prominent that we 
are accustomed to notice only these. 

The vocal tones in speech have a very different 
timbre from that of the vocal tones in singing, 
appear duller, and have less of a clang. 



CHAPTEK V. 

THE TIMBRE OF THE VOICE. 

TXTE use singing or vocal tones in speaking, 
and we use words, or speaking sounds, in 
singing. Thus, in speaking, as in singing, the 
instrument of speech and that of vocal tones work 
together in a similar way; and yet there is a great 
difference between speaking and singing, and we 
immediately recognize it by the difference of the 
timbre of the vocal tones, for the timbre of the 
speaking sounds, as we perceive it in whispering, 
is as unchangeable as these sounds themselves. 

It has already been stated that the pitch de- 
pends upon the number of vibrations, the fulness 
of the tone upon the amplitude of the vibrations, 
and the timbre upon their form ; and, furthermore, 
that every musical tone consists of its fundamental 
tone, and of a series of overtones following one 
another in a certain order, and that the timbre of 
the tone is changed by the number and strength of 

85 



36 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

these overtones; likewise, that a perfectly beauti- 
ful musical tone must be free from high dissonant 
overtones, and be composed of its fundamental 
tone and its harmonic overtones, sounding with 
the fundamental tone but gradually growing 
weaker to the last; and, finally, that to such a 
pure musical tone a form of vibration as round 
as possible corresponds. Thus, tones of the same 
timbre have the same number and order, and 
the same prominent overtones, and also the same 
form of vibrations. 

The infinite variety of the timbre of musical 
instruments, as well as of human voices, is evi- 
dent from the fact that the slightest change in 
the order, number, and strength of the harmonics, 
as well as the addition of dissonant overtones, has 
an influence upon the timbre. Helmholtz found 
that the timbre depends upon the manner in which 
a tone begins. When a smooth surface of water 
is touched, we see that it depends upon the man- 
ner in which we touch it, whether many or few 
little waves, or none, are formed, running out 
and preceding the main wave. When a little ball 
of lead is dropped into water, there are instantly 
seen running quickly out over the surface of the 



THE TIMBRE OE THE VOICE. g7 

water, with the principal wave, and preceding it, 
a number of little waves (corresponding to over- 
tones formed in the air), the rapidity of the main 
wave and the number of the little ones depending 
upon the height from which the ball is dropped. 
But when a bit of paper floating down through 
the air falls gently on the water, few or no little 
w r aves are visible preceding the main one. The 
same is the case when a heavy body is sunk slowly 
into the water. 

Consequently, after long years of experience, 
I have learned that for every voice in singing , the 
most beautiful timbre possible is to be attained only 
by beginning the tone with a moderate expenditure 
of breath, and with a quick, light, clastic touch. 

The quantity of air exhaled in the formation of 
a tone has likewise much to do with the timbre. 
It is evident from the cases we have mentioned, 
in which the power of speaking remained when 
the larynx was entirely closed, that the air con- 
tained in the mouth is sufficient for the pro- 
duction of speaking sounds in whispering. The 
vocal tones, when they are to be formed to full 
beautiful musical tones, require only a certain 
amount of breath. By a quick, light, elastic 



88 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

touch, a round form may be given to the waves 
of sound most favorable to the timbre, and for 
this there is needed only a weak stream of air, 
which may be quickly strengthened in order to 
broaden the waves of sound and prolong its 
duration. Yet while, by the broadening of the 
waves, the tone gains strength and fulness, the 
form must not be changed, as otherwise the 
timbre will suffer. So that the breath must be 
used with care if the tone, even in its greatest 
power and fulness, is to keep its beautiful ring. 

A too strong stream of breath only disturbs the 
waves of sound, or prevents them from taking the 
form most favorable to the timbre, without giving 
fulness and jiower to the voice. For by a strong 
emission of the air the waves of souud are driven 
out only in one direction, without expanding 
regularly on all sides, and, instead of the low 
harmonic OA^ertones which disappear, high dis- 
harmonic overtones are heard, rendering the tim- 
bre hard, sharp, and more or less disagreeable. 

The difference in timbre, by which we distin- 
guish instantly any one voice from all others, de- 
pends especially upon the fact that one, or oftener 
two overtones sound more plainly than the 



THE TIMBRE OF THE VOICE. g9 

And these prominent overtones always keep the 
same intervals in the series of overtones as they 
have already been described. If the first and 
second overtones sound, i.e., the first octave and 
fifth, the timbre is soft and mild, as, when the 
fifth and seventh sound strongly, it becomes bright 
and clear, etc. This is true of the voice in singing 
as well as in speaking, because the vocal tones are 
used in both. 

The very different timbre of the same voice in 
singing and in speaking depends only upon the 
different forms of the sound-waves, which in sing- 
ing are much more favorable to the timbre than it 
is possible for them to be in speaking, and conse- 
quently a greater number of harmonic overtones 
are produced. In singing, it is the vocal tones 
for which the cavity of the mouth is always 
tuned, in reference to which all the movements 
of the vocal mechanism, as well as all sounds of 
speech, must be accommodated. In speaking, on 
the other hand, it is the sounds of speech to which 
the whole resonance apparatus is fitted, and the 
vocal tones serve only to give to the same greater 
strength and reach. 

For a tone in singing, the cavity of the mouth, 
9 



90 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

which serves as the resonance-tube, and which is 
tuned for every tone, must be more spacious than 
we are accustomed to make it for the same tone in 
speaking. 

AVe cannot form any tone in singing without a 
vowel sound; but as the cavity of the mouth is 
tuned in singing to the vocal tone, it is scarcely 
possible, in many tones of the voice, to bring out 
certain vowels purely and plainly with a fine mu- 
sical tone. It is just as impossible to sing above 
e i^g-- f--j upon any other vowel than a, and 



below the c ~(u \ upon any other than o, 



without injuring the timbre of the tone.* Every 
singer knows that a beautiful tone in singing 
often becomes possible only as the vowel sound 
accompanying it is pronounced a shade darker or 
lighter. 

Thus, the breath, set into sounding vibrations 
in the larynx, takes in singing a direction differ- 
ent from that in speaking. In the formation of 
a tone in singing, the vibrating column of air 
bounds against the roof of the mouth immedi- 



* See The Voice in Singing, page 101. 



THE TIMBRE OF THE VOICE. ()1 

ately above the upper front teeth, and then re- 
bounds, thus obtaining for its vibrations the cor- 
rect form necessary to a tine musical timbre. 
In speaking, on the other hand, the cavity of the 
mouth is smaller, and the breath goes directly 
out before such a form of vibration can be at- 
tained ; consequently, the voice in speaking has, 
with many inharmonic, but few harmonic over- 
tones, which takes from the timbre brightness 
and ring. 

But the most important difference between the 
timbre of the vocal tones in singing and in speak- 
ing lies in the time which is given to the vocal 
tones to be formed. When we sing with words, the 
tone rests and forms itself upon the vowel of the 
syllable, and needs for its development more time 
than is allowed in speaking, no matter how small 
the difference of time may be. The sounds of 
speech quickly follow and crowd after one another. 
But for the shortest tone in singing much more 
time is required to render it perfect. Let any one 
try to allow the syllables to follow one another as 
rapidly in singing as they do in speaking, and it 
will be seen at once that the tones instantly lose 
in melody, and their timbre becomes more like 



92 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

the timbre of the same tone in speaking. In like 
manner, the voice in speakiDg gains in melody 
when we let onr words follow one another as 
slowly as they do in singing, and permit the voice 
to dwell awhile upon the vowels. "When several 
quickly succeeding tones are to be sung, they are 
formed as much as possible upon one and the 
same syllable with one and the same vowel soimd, 
and this is done so unconsciously that the short 
time which is given for the formation of such 
tones is not interfered with by the change in 
the cavity of the mouth required by the speak- 
ing sounds. In speaking, on the other hand, 
several syllables are generally formed upon one 
and the same vocal tone. 

The common idea that the difference in timbre 
between singing and speaking arises from the 
fact that in speaking the tone is veiled and muf- 
fled by the noises of the speaking sounds, finds 
its contradiction in the fact that, in singing, the 
speaking sounds must be made more distinct if 
they are not to be veiled by the vocal tones, and 
if they are to be clearly understood. 

The old opera-composers, with true tact, had 
. an eye to the slurring of the words which is 



THE TIMBRE OF THE VOICE. 93 

unavoidable in singing. Their operas consist of 
single pieces, arias, duets, quartettes, etc., in which, 
by simple sentences mostly, the sentiment of the 
music is supported. The speeches, dialogues, etc., 
by which the action of the piece is carried on are 
spoken (not sung), whereby the action is made 
more lively and not retarded in its denouement. 
In place of these spoken passages, we have now in 
our modern operas the Recitative, which is con- 
sidered a great point gained, as we thus can have 
musical dramas. But if a recitative be well sung, 
i.e. } with the greatest possible beauty of timbre, 
the words are unavoidably slurred and lengthened, 
or are uttered quickly and distinctly, and then it 
is impossible to produce with them a good musical 
tone. A recitative is therefore usually either badly 
sung or unnaturally sjjoken : hence we may de- 
termine the pretensions of some modern com- 
posers, whose operas, as is well known, consist 
mostly of recitatives, so that a good singer must 
look chiefly to the correct enunciation of the 
words, and treat the voice and its management as 
secondary matters. 

The difference in timbre between the speaking 

and the singing voice consists, then, — 
9* 



94 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

1. In the different direction of the breath. 

2. In the different roominess of the cavity of 
the mouth. 

3. In the different length of time afforded for 
the development of the vocal tones. 

So, in speaking, the vibrations of the vocal tones 
have a less favorable form, and consequently also 
fewer harmonic overtones, than in singing. 



CHAPTER VI. 



REACH OF THE VOICE. 



rPHE waves of sound, like all unclulatory 
-*- movements, flow out on all sides from the 
point at which they begin, and their amplitude 
decreases with the distance until it vanishes alto- 
gether. The greater or less distance which the 
sound-waves run through until they are lost and 
no longer heard constitutes the reach of the sound. 
It depends, like their timbre, upon how and where 
the tone begins, i.e., upon the starting-point, and 
whether the air be free or confined. We see that 
upon a surface of water it is not the force that 
comes slowly in contact with it, but the quick, 
light, elastic touch, that sends out its undulations 
most quickly and farthest. Just so it is with 
sound. It is the sudden, elastic origin of a sound 
that makes it perceptible at a greater distance 
than when it is produced by a greater force slowly 
applied. For how very much elasticity increases 

95 



96 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

speed and force is well known. By the elastic 
blow of a small hammer a nail may be driven 
into a board more easily than if one undertook to 
press it in with his whole strength ; and the more 
elastic the motion with which a boy throws his 
ball, the farther and more quickly does it fly 
through the air. 

Just so a tone will sound farther and more 
quickly when it can spread out unhindered from 
the place of its origin. Persons who form their 
speaking sounds far back in the mouth are not 
heard so far off, although they exert the greater 
force, as those whose words are formed in the 
right way: as much as possible forward in the 
mouth. 

In relation to the Keach of Sound, modern 
books on Acoustics have communicated some very 
interesting results of scientific investigations, which 
may properly find a place here, as they furnish 
many useful hints in regard to public speaking. 
In a place exhausted of air no sound is possible; 
in rarefied air sound is weak, and when persons in 
a balloon have risen very high in strata of thin 
air, they have had difficulty in making themselves 
mutually understood. Prof. Saussure discharged a 



REACH OF THE VOICE. 97 

pistol on the top of Mont Blanc, and it sounded 
no louder than a fire-cracker. Sound is carried 
farther when it goes from below upward than when 
its direction is the reverse. Heat and cold, dryness 
and moisture of the air, have only a slight influ- 
ence upon the Reach of Sound. At the freezing- 
point the reach of a sudden sound, as, for example, 
the report of a musket, is one thousand and ninety 
feet per second, and its speed is increased about 
two feet with every degree of heat. The waves 
of tone have the same swiftness as a cannon-ball. 
A beam of light that sends its waves so much 
more swiftly through the air would, at the above- 
mentioned slower rate of motion, cease to be light. 
That the wind has a great effect upon the Reach 
of Sound is well known ; but not only does the 
wind blowing against it lessen the reach, but also 
when it crosses its direction, and when, as in a 
storm, it has the same direction as the sound. A 
moderate wind, on the other hand, blowing the 
same way with the waves of sound, considerably 
helps the reach. Strong draughts of air in a 
room are very .unfavorable to it. When the 
ventilation of the two Houses of Parliament in 
London was so arranged that there was a draught 



98 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

of air in the middle of the hall from the floor to 
the ceiling, it was impossible for the speakers to 
be heard on the opposite sides of the room. 

In like manner, solid bodies which oppose 
the spread of the waves of sound have an ob- 
structing influence upon its reach, and if they are 
of great size, they cause even a sort of sound 
shadow. The sound continues on the other side 
of such bodies, as a stream flowing towards an 
island reunites beyond it. We know that the 
smallest object standing in the way of the waves 
of light casts a shadow, i.e., the light- waves, which 
are very much smaller than the waves of sound, 
are parted by it, and reunite at a short distance 
behind the object that separates them, and move 
on. ' We see also in water, that immediately 
beyond a large rock or island lying in the current 
of the waves the surface of the water is more 
quiet, although the large waves roll around it. 
So behind a large, firm body, which interrupts the 
sound, one hears as in its shadow far less clearly 
than he would if he were at that distance on the 
opposite side, where the waves of sound, running 
round it, again unite. Two persons separated by 
a rising ground, though they cannot see each other, 



REACH OF THE VOICE. 99 

may yet hear each other well ; but they would hear 
each other better if nothing stood in the way, 
although the sound goes off over the elevation. 
Only when the sound is conducted through a pipe 
or a canal closed on all sides, in which it cannot 
spread itself, is it possible to give it any direction 
one chooses without the sounds being weakened. 
When solid, firmly-set bodies standing parallel in 
the same direction, such as walls, passages, and 
pipes, enclose the sound, the reach of the sound 
is increased, as the sound-waves are on one side 
or on all sides prevented from spreading, and 
they keep their form and direction longer. It is, 
in fact, as if the waves found, as it were, a sup- 
port enabling them to run along farther and more 
quickly. Long before the sharpest ear detects the 
approach upon the highway of a wagon or a troop 
of horses, the noise may be heard by laying the 
ear close to the ground. Over the water also, 
music, or the voice in reading aloud, is borne a 
third of the distance farther than it is heard on 
land. Under the domes of churches, or in halls 
in which the ceilings and the Avails make no 
angles, one may learn how the sound travels 
along the ceiling. When in such places a person 



100 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

in one corner whispers with his face turned to the 
wall, another person in the opposite corner, with 
his ear against the wall, may hear every word, 
while one in the middle of the room hears 
nothing. Such is the case, for example, in the 
great gallery under the dome of St. Peter's in 
Rome, in St. Paul's in London, in the great 
entrance-hall of the royal castle in Wurzburg, 
and in other similar places. 

The speaking-trumpets used on board of ships, 
the speaking-tubes in hotels, conduct the sound 
far beyond its usual reach, because they prevent 
the waves of sound from being diffused, and thus 
they keep their direction and form much longer 
when they pass through the tube, as water flow- 
ing through a pipe keeps its direction long after 
it has left the pipe, and before it is lost in the 
water into which it flows. To prove this : a 
speaking-trumpet of brass plate may be lined 
with cloth without producing any difference in 
the reach of the sound. That at night, not only 
in the populous city, but also in the lonely 
country, every noise is heard at a greater distance 
and more plainly than in the day-time, is due to 
the fact that by day the air is filled with all sorts 



REACH OF THE VOICE. \Q\ 

of noises, which disturb the development of the 
waves of any single sound. 

Prof. "VVertheim has investigated the reach of 
sound through different substances. He states 
that water conducts sound four times more swiftly 
than air; lead, silver, and platinum about eight 
times as fast; zinc and copper, twelve; iron and 
steel, fifteen; glass and ice, sixteen times; and 
that sound is conducted by the wood of the fir- 
tree eighteen times more quickly than in the open 
air. 



10 



CHAPTER VIL 

THE REFLECTION OF SOUND. 

QjOUND is reflected when the waves of sound 
^ strike against any object and rebound, just 
as it is with light; and as the beams of light 
are thrown back from a hard, smooth, and pol- 
ished surface better and more quickly than from 
a surface that is rough and soft, so also firm, 
hard bodies best reflect sound; and, indeed, the 
more directly the source of the sound stands 
before the body reflecting it, the more acute will 
be the angle in which the sound is thrown back, 
and the more obliquely the sound-waves strike 
the object, the more obtuse will be the. angle of 
reflection, the angle of incidence being the same 
as the angle of reflection. As it very often 
happens that the reflection of sound is confounded 
with the resonance of objects, it will be well here, 
for the better understanding of the matter, to state 
briefly what resonance is. 
102 



THE REFLECTION OF SOUND. 103 

As a body upon which the rays of the sun fall 
becomes so heated thereby that it gives out heat 
of itself, so also many objects which are struck by 
the waves of sound become self-sounding, and 
mingle their proper tones with the sound received. 
The so-called resonance-boards, with which we 
are familiar in musical instruments, are all made 
of the wood of the fir-tree, as this is the only 
w r ood the fibres of which run straight without 
interfering with one another. These woody fibres 
begin to vibrate as soon as the weaves of sound pro- 
duced by the strings strike them, and strengthen 
thereby the thin, weak tone of the strings to the 
degree in which we hear it, full and strong, in 
our pianos and stringed instruments. On account 
of its resonance, fir wood is the best conductor of 
sound, because the sound strengthened by it keeps 
its own strength so much the longer. A vibrating 
tuning-fork sounds much stronger the instant 
it is placed upon wood, which immediately 
vibrates with it. In the human voice, as well 
with fhe noi.se of speaking as with the vocal tones, 
the resonance is the air vibrating in the cavity of 
the mouth, which, stirred by both noises and 
tones, vibrates of itself. On the other hand, 



104 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

when the sound-waves are thrown back by objects 
which are not themselves stirred, and do not 
vibrate with the sound-waves, it is Reflection. 
Rocks, caves, trunks of trees, grouped in certain 
ways, and even high billows, and sails which are 
rendered concave by the wind, as well as smooth 
walls, etc., reflect sound. Soft and elastic sub- 
stances, such as carpets, heavy curtains, padded 
furniture, cork, rubber, and felt, dampen the 
sound ; they do not reflect it. 

To reflection is owing the well-known natural 
phenomenon, the Echo, which Radeau explains in 
the following way. We first hear the sound of our 
own voice, and then the reflection of the sound 
from some object a little later. When opposite to 
the reflecting object there stands another, upon 
which the sound that is thrown back can fall and 
be again thrown back, we hear the sound again 
somewhat later the third time, and so on. The 
distinctness of the echo depends upon the distance 
of the reflecting body from the source of the sound. 
According to Radeau, one cannot speak more than 
five to ten syllables in a second.(?) Hence if the 
reflecting body is so near that the sound comes 
back before the speaker is ready with the next 



THE REFLECTION OF SOUND. 105 

syllable, there is only a confused noise; the farther 
off, then, the reflecting body is, the more distinct 
is the echo. To hear only one syllable distinctly 
repeated by the echo, the reflecting body must be 
from ninety to one hundred and ten feet distant 
from the speaker, and he must utter the syllables 
in a maimer favorable to the reach. Two syllables 
require twice, three syllables three times, the dis- 
tance of the reflecting body. If it is farther off, 
there occur pauses between the repetitions. Ac- 
cordingly, as the articulation of the speaker favors 
the reach, a distinct echo of seven syllables may 
be heard at a distance of four hundred or six 
hundred feet. When we pronounce more sylla- 
bles than the echo from its distance can return to 
us, the first syllables are not heard at all, only the 
last distinctly. 

We often hear in the street a noise which ap- 
pears to come from quite an opposite direction to 
that from which it really does. When houses or 
walls are in front of the sound, conducting it 
away, we hear only the reflection from the oppo- 
site houses. All arched buildings reflect sound 
very strongly,* as a concave mirror reflects light. 

* In the vaulted cellars of the Pantheon in Eome the 
10* 



106 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

In fine, upon the same laws that are familiarly 
illustrated in the action of light reflected from 
two concave mirrors placed opposite each other, 
depends the reflection of sound in vaulted build- 
ings. 

The most opposite views prevail as to the 
way in which a room should be constructed so 
that the voice in singing and speaking may be 
best heard. The main thing in such a room must 
be that it shall reflect sound neither too much nor 
too little. 

In ancient times, they had amphitheatres cir- 
cular or elliptical in form, with seats all round 
rising step by step. These buildings had no other 
roofs than the sky above them, or, when it was 
necessary to protect them from the sun, awnings 
extended over them. Although they were so 
large, as we see in their ruins, as to hold many 
thousands of spectators, people seated in the high- 
est places and most remote from the stage heard 

reflection is so great that when the guide only strikes upon 
his clothes it sounds like the report of a gun. And in the 
grotto of Dionysius, in Syracuse, in Sicily, the tearing of a 
piece of paper resounds like the firing of a platoon of 
infantry. 



THE REFLECTION OF SOUND. 107 

with the greatest ease. It is evident that the 
ancients paid attention to the acoustic qualities 
of their theatres and halls. In many of their 
buildings of this class, it appears that there were 
niches, in which were hung large bells, or huge 
earthen vases, which, tuned to certain tones, were 
designed by their resonance to strengthen the 
sounds of the voice. 

But when civilization spread over more in- 
clement climes, and Art could no longer be en- 
joyed in the open air at every season of the year, 
a mode of building different from that of the 
ancients had to be resorted to. 

Most of our present concert-halls, play-houses, 
and churches appear to be constructed not for the 
ear, but for the eye. The pillars, columns, galle- 
ries, boxes, pews, and prominent ornaments of all 
kinds, greatly interfere, as must be apparent from 
what has been said, with the reach and reflection 
of sound. Elliptical, circular, or highly-vaulted 
buildings are injurious to the distinct development 
of sound, because they have too powerful or too 
irregular reflection; for as two concave mirrors 
placed opposite each other concentrate the light 
upon one point, so it is with sound. That 



108 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

much prominent ornamentation affects the reflec- 
tion of vaulted roofs and of the walls is shown in 
the concert-hall of the Art Academy in Berlin, 
and in St. Mary's Church in Dresden, which, 
though both vaulted, are so overloaded with dec- 
orations that the fault in their construction is in 
a measure remedied, and in both music sounds 
tolerably well. 

The concert-hall of the Gewandthaus in Leip- 
sic is celebrated for its acoustic qualities. It 
is about half as broad as it is long, and some- 
what less in, height than in breadth, and, except 
a gallery, it has no projecting decorations ; ceiling 
and walls run straight, only at the farther end, 
where the orchestra has its place, the walls form 
a half-circle. 

The Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia is 
unquestionably the finest room in the world both 
for speaking and singing. It is one hundred and 
thirty feet long, sixty feet broad, twenty-two feet 
High in the corners, aud twenty-eight feet in the 
centre, the ceiling being thus but slightly arched. 
Only on the long sides of the hall are there 
windows, otherwise the side walls are smooth. 
"When the place is empty, and a brief, elastic tone 



THE REFLECTION OF SOUND. 109 

is uttered quickly, it may be heard repeatedly from 
five to seven times, but very rapidly, so that the 
repetitions can just be distinguished. A strong 
tone suddenly broken off sounds long after. But 
when the hall is filled, and the surface of the floor 
is consequently covered, this reflection ceases, and 
every one who speaks or sings there must observe 
how little exertion of the voice is needed, and how 
beautiful and distinct is every sound. 

Bearing in mind the natural laws upon which 
the reach and the reflection of sound depend, and 
what practice has taught us, it is not difficult to 
frame a theory according to which a room may 
be constructed most favorable to the distinct de- 
velopment of the sound. A smooth surface throws 
back sound just like light, in an angle ; a concave 
surface, on the other hand, reflects all rays of light 
as well as all sound-waves, coming from one point, 
in parallel rays. It will, therefore, be seen that 
it is better to have only one concave surface or 
wall in a music-hall, as otherwise the reflection 
would again come to a focus, even though the 
sound-waves are parallel. When, therefore, there 
stands directly opposite to a concave surface a 
flat surface from which the sound is reflected, 



HO THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

a favorable reflection of the tone is afforded. The 
size of a building, provided it is not too small, 
has much less effect upon its acoustic properties 
than one would suppose. 

In the theatres the spectators' seats are com- 
monly in a half-circle, because the stage with its 
movable coulisses, linen and paper walls, is wholly 
unfavorable to reflection. A great fault in our 
modern theatres is, that sound finds so little of 
flat surface from which to be reflected, and the 
reach of the sound is hemmed in by numerous 
projecting decorations, statues, pillars, etc. Upon 
almost all stages the singers and speakers have 
to find and mark the places where they are to 
stand in order to be the most easily heard. 

The Opera House in Munich has some benches 
in the parquette, where the reflection is so power- 
ful that there, instead of music, only a confused 
noise is heard. A theatre renowned for its acous- 
tic properties is an old Grecian one in Athens. 
The present Opera House in Venice is also ex- 
cellent in this respect. It is built like all our 
modern theatres, except that instead of the open 
galleries for the spectators, a smooth flat wall 
decorated with paintings forms a half-circle, in 



THE REFLECTION OF SOUND. \\\ 

which are the spectators' boxes, opened towards 
the stage like windows in a house, and taking up 
no more space from its flat surface than windows 
would. 

In the European churches there is often too 
much reflection, and that reflection is rendered 
irregular by the columns, galleries, and decora- 
tions upon which the sound breaks, all of which 
injures its reach and renders the words of the 
preacher often unintelligible. In a room with 
unfavorable acoustic properties, it sometimes suf- 
fices for the speaker or singer to change his place ; 
but, as this depends upon the quality of the voice 
and the manner of speaking, no strict rule can be 
given. When it is considered that in the case of 
the loud utterance of a man's voice the sonnd-waves 
are ten or twelve feet long, if it be sought to 
estimate the reflection accordingly, very often incor- 
rect results will be arrived at, because, as we have 
seen in relation to the reach and timbre of sound, 
the form as well as the length of the vibrations de- 
pends upon the way in which the tone begins, and 
this is different in different persons. Prof. Rood 
found that when he walked forward and back- 
ward before a wall with a tuning-fork in vibra- 



112 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



tion, he came to a place where the sound could no 
longer be heard, and that is the point where the 
vibrations reflected from the wall interfere with 
the vibrations coming from the fork; so, likewise, 
a place is found where the fork sounds loudest, 
because the reflected waves meet with the direct 
waves in such a way that the latter are rein- 
forced by the former. When a speaker finds such 
a place, he may be heard plainly notwithstanding 
the faulty construction of the room. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FAULTS IN SPEAKING. 

A LMOST simultaneously with the ideas which 
-^^- arise in the awaking mind of a child is born 
the power to speak the few words needed to ex- 
press them. And merely by imitating the persons 
around him, he gradually becomes accustomed to 
give expression to his feelings and wishes. 

As we learn speaking in childhood, so we use it 
all our lives, without a thought of the wonderful 
mechanism and perfection of the Vocal Organ. 
With truly inconceivable skill we unconsciously 
use an instrument, with which we could not pos- 
sibly accomplish anything if we had, at a later 
period, to learn how to use it as a thing external 
to us. We avail ourselves of the vocal organ with 
just as little thought as we do of so many other 
miracles of creation, without troubling ourselves 
about their wonderful mechanism, until science 
directs our attention to them, and then a glimpse 
11 113 



114 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

into the order and harmony of Mature is afforded 
us. Then, indeed, a feeling of devout admiration 
fills us, and we are impressed with a sense of a 
power before which, with all our wondrous intel- 
lectual faculties, we sink into insignificance. 

But of what practical use is it for the speaker 
to understand the wonderful organism of his 
voice, since it has never yet occurred to any one 
playing upon any other instrument to trouble 
himself particularly about the acoustic laws of its 
construction, those laws in conformity with which 
this natural organ is also constructed? Why 
should we, consciously, and with painstaking, seek 
to change and improve what we have naturally 
and unconsciously become accustomed to use ? 
The answer is this : The human voice is no 
common instrument, none other is so flexible and 
so changeable at will, and for that reason none 
other is so often improperly and unnaturally 
used. 

The knowledge of the natural laws of the 
voice teaches us to distinguish the correct from 
the incorrect use of the vocal organ, the failure 
to distinguish which is very common, and which 
leads to very serious consequences, producing dis- 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. \\§ 

eases that render speaking difficult, and sometimes 
wholly impossible. 

And again, will not this knowledge teach us 
also to employ our means of speech in the best 
and most fitting manner, i.e., to render speech 
more far-reaching and full-sounding, with less ef- 
fort, and at the same time give not only the most 
correct but the most beautiful expression to our 
thoughts and emotions? Through neglect of the 
faults and bad habits which children, in learn- 
ing to speak, catch from those around them, as 
also through ignorant attempts to improve the 
speaking voice, so much that is neither beauti- 
ful nor natural has gradually slipped into our 
manner of speaking and become habitual with 
us, that in order to be able to speak well and 
naturally one must become acquainted with the 
laws which lie at the foundation of the mech- 
anism of the human organ of speech. Nature, 
in her unapproachable sovereignty, enables us 
always to produce what is most beautiful and 
most perfect, with less exertion of our physical 
powers than is required for the artificial and the 
unnatural. 

The sounds made in speaking are, for the reach 



116 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

of the voice, so perfectly formed when naturally 
produced that the arrangement therefor admits 
of no improvement. The characteristic noises of 
most of the consonants must be formed with elastic 
quickness altogether forward in the mouth. And 
all the rest of the consonants, as well as all the 
vowels, can be the most easily produced in the 
same way. When this takes place with the ap- 
propriate elastic abruptness, speech will have its 
greatest reach. 

Instead of this, the noise accompanying the 
vowels is very frequently made slowly and feebly, 
more or less far back in the mouth. Even in 
scientific works the place for the formation of the 
vowels is so given that a, as it is pronounced in 
father, is the farthest back, and u (as in lute) the 
farthest front, in the mouth. The uncertain im- 
pulse which is given to the air so far back in the 
mouth, and by which the noise attending the 
vowels is made, hinders the sound from moving 
the external air quickly enough, and at the same 
time gives the voice a hollow, muffled timbre, 
as though the speaker had something in his 
mouth. 

It is evident from what has just been said that 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. H7 

every vowel needs for its peculiar tone a certain 
tuning, which requires a certain definite space. 
In addition to the careless, uncertain formation of 
the vowel sound so far back, there is the common 
fault of not properly opening the mouth for the 
formation of the proper tone of the vowel, and 
hence is set vibrating the air of the nasal cavity, 
which, in the correct utterance of the vowel 
sounds, is shut off by the soft palate, and the 
voice thus acquires an extremely disagreeable 
nasal timbre. 

As such an incorrect forming of the vowels de- 
mands a far greater expenditure of force, in the 
consequent effort to render the voice intelligible 
the speaker expels the sound with increased 
amount of breath, which naturally is more fati- 
guing, and needlessly so. It is evident that, in 
speaking, the vocal sounds of the glottis, even 
when their sole service is to elevate whispering 
into speaking aloud, need for their development at 
least as much room in the cavity of the mouth as 
the proper tones of the vowels. The more room 
that is given them, the more overtones are heard 
accompanying the vocal tones, and the more mu- 
sical and full-sounding is the timbre of the voice. 
11* 



118 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

It cannot escape the attention of any observer 
that this nasal or hollow timbre of the speaking 
voice is very prevalent, especially in this country. 
But, although the force of life-long habit is to be 
contended against, it is not so hard as one may 
suppose, with due attention and perseverance, to 
overcome this fault. The best way to do it is to 
take pains to pronounce the vowels quickly and 
distinctly, in connection with such consonants as 
are formed the farthest forward in the mouth, and 
then to practise with such syllables as produce the 
vowel noises at the same place, taking care to see 
that this is the case. For we must remember not 
only that the reach, but also, in great part, the 
timbre, of the tones depends upon the manner in 
which the beginning is made. 

I often hear it objected, and especially by 
young ladies, that it is ugly to open one's mouth 
in speaking, and that the teeth should be kept 
closed and the lips as quiet as possible. It is true 
the timbre of the sounds is injured as much by 
too great an opening of the mouth as by the 
closing of the teeth. The correct state of the 
cavity of the mouth requires only a moderate 
opening, which, provided no needless grimaces 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. H9 

accompany it, secures graceful and fine speaking. 
With but slight movements of the upper lip, it is 
the lower jaw that, with the tongue and lower lip, 
is most moved. The rest of the features have 
nothing to do in speech, save as they are invol- 
untarily affected by the import of what is spoken. 
It would be extremely ridiculous if one were to 
treat light topics with a sad countenance, or give 
expression to pain and grief with a smiling 
face. 

The characteristic noises of many of the conso- 
nants come from expelling the breath quite for- 
ward in the mouth suddenly and with elasticity, 
and at that place where it may, unobstructed, 
move the external air. Thus produced, these 
noises are favorable to the reach, while the conso- 
nants g, r, k, and I can be just as well formed 
farther back in. the mouth. But it is necessary 
to the reach of the voice that these sounds also 
should have their inception as far forward as pos- 
sible. To form g and k in this way requires only 
a little attention. It is somewhat more difficult to 
accustom one's self to a correct utterance of I. It 
is quite common to form the spoken I in the way 
already described, with the slow movement of the 



120 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

edges of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth, 
instead of with the tip of the tongue. 

With attention and practice, however, one may 
accustom himself to form the I with the tip of the 
tongue. But it is very difficult to form the r in 
this way if we have been used to form it with the 
uvula. The palatal r, as is so commonly heard, 
is formed entirely back in the mouth by the 
tremulous motion of the uvula. To the lingual r, 
made by the vibrating tip of the tongue, it is 
objected that it sounds affected; but merely be- 
cause it is not usual. It can be made so lightly 
and softly as not to be distinguished in sound 
from the palatal r. It is evident, however, that 
speakers as well as singers, with whom distinct- 
ness and reach are important, should use only 
the lingual r. To learn to make it is sometimes 
rather difficult, but it can be done by repeating 
frequently and rapidly, one after the other, the 
syllables hade, hado, or ade, ado, ada, etc. In 
this way the tongue becomes accustomed to the 
right position, and the motion by-and-by becomes 
rapid enough for the formation of the rolling r. 
By means of the h, the breathing, somewhat 
strengthened, sets the tip of the tongue vibrating, 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. 121 

which is raised for the d, if the motion is often 
made in quick succession. But it frequently 
needs years of practice to render the lingual r 
habitual.* 

The thrusting forward of the tongue, which is 
so common, or lisping, as it is called, proceeds 
from an incorrect formation of the s. Instead of 
allowing the tongue to lie near the lower teeth, 
and giving free way to the air between the teeth, 
the tongue is raised for the s, as for the English 
thy against the upper teeth. The great portion of 
the narrow opening between the teeth is thus 
closed, so that the many dissonant overtones which 
are formed in the noise of the s, at the sharp 
edges of the teeth, are so diminished that the s 
thus lisped sounds like a muffled blowing, which 
obtains some degree of reach only by a compara- 
tively greater expenditure of breath. As the s, 
both in English and in German, is very frequently 
used, this wrong method of forming this one 
sound gives to speech the very remarkable peculi- 
arity which we call lisping. With some attention 
this defect may be easily corrected, especially in 
early youth, since it does not arise, as is commonly 
* The Voice in Singing. 



122 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

supposed, from any fault of the vocal organs, but 
is the result of a faulty habit which clings to 
persons the whole life long, because they never 
thoroughly understand the cause of it. 

Another common fault, which is, however, less 
striking, owes its origin to the fact that too much 
time is given to the formation of the consonants 
and too little to that of the vowels. The slow, 
careless pronunciation of the consonants makes 
speech indistinct, while the slighting of the vowels, 
not giving time for the development of their 
proper tones, makes it unmelodious. 

Again, we often find that indistinctness of 
speech is caused by the speaker's not tuning prop- 
erly the cavity of his mouth for each vowel 
sound : this fault is invariably indicated by the 
insufficient motion of the lower jaw. 

There exists with women as well as with men 
another very ugly and injurious fault, caused 
by contracting the soft palate and the parts lying 
in the back of the mouth, so that the air for- 
cibly pressed through this narrow passage meets 
with unnecessary resistance. The same action 
takes place as in clearing the throat, only in a 
higher degree. This fault produces the same 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. 123 

rattling noise, a kind of twang, which not only 
gives a disagreeable clang to the voice, but also 
tires the organs, and is often a cause of chronic 
sore throat. 

It is not necessary to particularize the numer- 
ous bad habits of speaking which may be daily 
observed. Keeping in view the natural laws of 
speech, as we have endeavored to set them forth 
in the foregoing pages, every intelligent person 
may of himself learn to apply them. Although 
the incorrect formation of the speaking sounds is 
very tiresome, and also unfavorable to the reach 
of the voice, it has not by any means the inju- 
rious influence which an incorrect formation of 
the vocal tones has upon the vocal organs, and 
even upon the general health. 

The different modes of formation, or rather 
the Registers, of the vocal tones arising in the 
larynx from the vibrations of the vocal cords, 
and accompanying the vocal sounds in speaking 
aloud, have been particularly described. And 
it has been stated that the vocal tones used in 
speaking in men's voices are within the limits 
of the low chest register. 

When these tones are correctly and naturally 



124 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

formed, their clang is always full, pleasing, and 
sonorous, and more capable than the tones of any 
other register of expressing the tenderest and most 
passionate emotions, never fatiguing the vocal 
organ even when the speaking or singing is long 
continued. But, unhappily, these fine, deep chest 
tones are rarely heard in singers or speakers. 
Instead thereof, we commonly hear them sing 
and speak in the so-called Straw bass register, 
which not only has a dry, raw clang, but is also 
extremely fatiguing, and in the same degree in- 
jurious to the vocal organs. This is mostly the 
cause, especially in an advanced period of life, of 
chronic inflammations of the throat, which defy 
all medical treatment so long as this unnatural 
mode of forming these tones is continued. 

The so-called Straw bass register is a needless 
and unnatural way of enlarging the windpipe for 
the passage of the full column of air required for 
the formation of the low tones, instead of leaving 
this formation, as has been before described, to 
the air alone. The chronic inflammation, thence 
arising, of the vocal organs, is generally known 
under the name of " clergyman's sore throat." * 
* See Appendix. 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. 125 

That this disagreeable and injurious use of the 
voice is so common, and that even bass singers so 
rarely sing the deep chest tones in the natural and 
much easier way, is probably the reason why the 
false idea is so prevalent that it is only by a very 
powerful use of the breath and by downright 
bodily exertion that greater force and reach can be 
attained for the voice. Every child that amuses 
himself with blowing soap-bubbles very soon 
finds out that it is only by blowing moderately 
through his little pipe that the largest bubbles are 
made. And we are taught by all that has been 
said in the foregoing pages that the broadest vi- 
brations — i.e., the vibrations ivhich give the strong- 
est tones ivithout destroying their form (timbre) — 
are obtained only by a quick and elastic beginning 
of the tone with but a moderate expenditure of 
breath. When wc reflect how exceedingly narrow 
is the opening between the vocal cords through 
which the breath is expelled in the formation of 
tones, and how delicate and slight are the vi- 
brating cords which have to resist the air pressing 
upon them, it is a matter of astonishment that the 
vocal organ endures such a strain as it is com- 
monly subjected to. When teachers of elocution 
12 



126 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

and of singing require their pupils to fill their 
lungs full of air, that every tone and sound may 
be given with the greatest possible quantity of 
breath and force, they require what is just as 
opposite to the purpose as it is needlessly fa- 
tiguing, and will be as impossible to be borne 
as if, instead of walking, one were always to 
run at the top of his speed. 

In all the conditions of our existence it is 
evident that nature has designed us to use all 
our powers in moderation. Hence when we un- 
dertake to employ the maximum of our strength 
in whatever we do, as we so often, for example, 
use our breath in singing and in speaking, that 
strength must soon be exhausted. 

For the audible whispering voice there is 
always sufficient air io the mouth, and even for 
speaking aloud a moderate increase suffices. 

Women and children, with very rare excep- 
tions, observe the registers correctly in speaking. 
The chronic inflammations of the throat so fre- 
quent in women are mostly produced by incorrect 
singing of the two highest registers ; and thev dis- 
appear by correct singing of the second falsetto 
and head registers, or by ceasing to sing at all. 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. 127 

Among English-speaking people the voice is 
used in a very faulty manner. The reason, I 
suppose, is that not enough care is taken with 
little children to guard them against contracting 
bad habits of speaking. In Germany, where, in 
cultivated circles, special attention is given to 
speaking and reading, much more pains are be- 
stowed upon the young in these particulars. The 
bad habits formed in childhood, so offensive to a 
cultivated ear, are very often overcome in after- 
life only with great difficulty, if they be overcome 
at all. In almost all our schools the teachers of 
elocution, to attain any valuable results, have, at 
the utmost, only two or three hours in a week to 
devote to the instruction of classes, every indi- 
vidual of which has faults enough to consume the 
time, to say nothing of the fact that too often the 
teachers themselves are far from speaking correctly. 

A teacher of elocution should be thoroughly 
acquainted with the physiology of the vocal 
organ and with Acoustics, if he is to be successful 
in the hard conflict with bad habits of speech. 
And even then favorable results can be looked for 
only when a few pupils are under instruction at 
the same time. 



128 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

An accomplished teacher will need to hear 
only a few words from his pupil to discover 
whether the vocal tones are produced in the right 
registers. By the peculiar twang of the voice he 
will instantly recognize when it is unnaturally 
used. He must then first teach his pupil to form 
the lowest tones correctly, in accordance with the 
physical sensations which have been described. 
The pupil should, with very little expenditure of 
breath, sing those tones with a feeling of comfort, 
and without any exertion on his part, so that the 
windpipe may be enlarged only by the air flowing 
through it. In singing, the vocal tones can be 
much more easily judged of by the teacher, and 
be much more plainly felt by the pupil, than 
when, obstructed by the sounds in speech, they 
cannot be fully developed. Only when these 
lowest tones can be easily and correctly sung by 
the pupil should he be required to use them in 
speaking and in reading. Every word, every syl- 
lable, every vocal sound, must be repeated until it 
is produced with perfect correctness, — not merely 
every vocal tone in the right register, but also 
every speaking sound wholly forward in the 
mouth, with due precision and distinctness and 



FAULTS IN SPEAKING. 129 

without a disagreeable timbre. When every sound 
is correctly produced, the pupil may advance to 
reading aloud and declamation, the teacher taking 
especial care that the right measure of breath is 
never exceeded. 

When instruction is thus given, by a teacher 
possessing the required knowledge and the neces- 
sary talent, it is surprising how much may be 
accomplished in a short time; but the teacher 
must have a fine power of observation, great 
patience and perseverance, and a sterling general 
culture. It is far more difficult to correct a faulty 
way of speaking than a faulty way of singing, to 
say nothing of the expression, — giving a soul to 
the form, — of speech. Inspired by an indefinable 
emotion, one may sing with great effect ; but im- 
pressive speech demands, together with deep feel- 
ing, a distinct sense of the import of what is said. 
A teacher of elocution, therefore, in addition to a 
thoroughly solid general culture, must be possessed 
of the fine feeling which will enable him to form 
his pupils to a true, natural, and beautiful de- 
livery. 

It is parents, however, who are bound to sow 
the seeds of all that is good in the hearts of their 
12* 



130 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

children, who can do the most, and with far better 
results than it is possible for a teacher at a later 
period to realize. They have but to make clear 
to themselves in what a correct and beautiful 
mode of speaking consists, and to accustom their 
children thereto. 

Hitherto we have endeavored to describe the 
laws which govern the voice in speaking: the 
Form. The giving life and soul to the form 
of speech will be considered in the remaining 
pages. 



CHAPTER IX. 



MODULATION. 



"PUTTING together in close connection a num- 
- 1 - ber of speaking sounds, as they have now 
been described, we form a word whereby we give 
expression to some definite idea. And as we thus 
combine these sounds in greater or less numbers, 
in an infinite variety of ways, it becomes possible 
to us, with these few fundamental sounds of 
speech, to render intelligible to others every con- 
ceivable idea, every possible, emotion. But even 
a single word, according to the vocal tones upon 
which it is borne, and the intonation, that is, the 
shade of timbre, strength, and rhythm, with which 
it is pronounced, may express, with the same 
sequence of sound, very different conditions of 
feeling. 

There is a little comedy which has recently 
passed from the German to the English stage, the 
title of which is "Come Here." A stage-manager 

131 



132 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

is represented as examining a young actress, 
whom he requires to express with these two words 
every variety of emotion, from the greatest joy to 
the deepest sorrow and despair. Although I had 
often before seen this little play, it was not until I 
saw Mademoiselle Janauschek in this part that I 
was at all moved and made to share in the various 
emotions expressed. Simply by varying the vocal 
tones, the shadowings, intonations, and tempi of 
these tones, the artist was able so to utter these 
two syllables as to produce in the hearer one state 
of feeling after another of the most different and 
opposite character, with a success not to be at- 
tained by the most elaborate and vivid description. 
And this effect was secured simply by the Modu- 
lation of the Voice. 

It is commonly thought that melody in singing 
and modulation in speaking are one and the same 
thing. As both result from a series of variously 
arranged vocal tones, the origin and development 
of which depend upon the same laws, and since 
to both belong the different shades of intonation, 
this seems at first sight entirely correct, and 
hence we see why it is that in all works relating 
to elocution the attempt is made to lay down 



MODULATION. 133 

special rules for modulation, just as is done for 
melody. 

Melody arid Modulation, notwithstanding their 

apparent resemblance, are, however, essentially 
different. 

Melody is the form artistically created for Song, 
and it alone serves as the Form, since Music, that 
airy ideal Art, has no other. The singer receives 
the melody as a thing made and fixed by the com- 
poser, to which he is to give life and soul ; but in 
Speech it is the speaking sounds that constitute the 
Form to which soul is to be given by Modulation. 

Every expression of Art requires, as well from 
him who represents as from him who creates it, a 
certain inspiration, a divine afflatus, if it is to act 
with any power upon others. Under such an im- 
pulse, the musical composer writes the melody of 
his work in definite characters, in notes, by which 
he indicates with precision the gradations of the 
tones, their time, and their strength. A melody 
once composed is forever unchangeable ; and if a 
singer fails to observe with accuracy the prescribed 
order and time of the tones, if, indeed, he sings 
a single note higher or lower by only a few vibra- 
tions, a musical ear instantly detects the fault. 



134 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

Melody is, therefore, a form created for Art, rest- 
ing upon fixed natural laws, and in accordance 
with set rules. And yet, of all forms of Art it is 
the most delicate, incorporeal, and indefinite, by 
which we can give forth only obscure, indefinable 
moods of feeling. It is the task of the singer to 
animate the music as carefully as possible with the 
same emotions which inspired the composer who 
created it. The beauty of a composition is, how- 
ever, not necessarily injured when the singer gives 
it a character natural to himself, but different from 
that of the composer. And here, I doubt not, we 
have the reason why music is so near and dear to 
us all. It is because Melody, the Form of this 
Art, adapts itself so readily to the individual 
feelings of every one, and gives expression to 
emotions as real as they are obscure. 

While Melody, as the Form of Art in song, 
is fast bound by rules, Modulation in Speech is 
free and untrammelled. It is connected neither 
with tones depending upon a certain number of 
vibrations nor with intervals,* but changes with 
an inexhaustible variety, according to the finest 

* Intervals are the greater or less distances between two 
notes. 



MODULATION. 135 

shades of the emotions from which it directly pro- 
ceeds and of which it is the immediate expression. 
For the modulation of speech is created at the 
very instant at which the vocal sounds need it. 
And as it is thus created, it thus vanishes forever, 
leaving upon the mind of the hearer a more or 
less distinct impression. 

The speaking sounds, arranged in syllables, 
words, and sentences, constitute the Form of 
Speech, animated by modulation, and in charac- 
ters written or printed this form obtains perma- 
nency, and such definiteness and exactness as no 
one could otherwise insure ; for by means of the 
written or printed word we have exact apprecia- 
tion of our thoughts, and can even communicate 
our feelings with comparative clearness to others, 
without the help of the voice and its modulation. 
For much that is addressed to the understand- 
ing alone or chiefly, as, for example, matters of 
science, mere reading is often to be preferred, as 
it affords us time to weigh well what is stated. 
Indeed, many dramatic works, such as Lessing's 
"Nathan the Wise," or Goethe's "Faust," arc so 
rich in thought that they give us greater pleasure 
in reading than in the representation on the stage, 



136 TEE VOICE IN SPEAKIXG. 

since in the latter case many beauties, that cannot 
at once be caught, escape us. A thought, whether 
heard or read, always keeps its significance. But 
the fine and deep shades of our emotional life 
need the voice and the modulation of the vocal 
tones to give them life and color. 

Among the millions of human beings inhabit- 
ing the globe, rarely are there to be found two 
persons so alike as not to be distinguished one 
from the other. And yet all faces are composed 
of like features and in the same manner. The 
movements of the inner nature show themselves 
in the looks, and if the same dispositions of mind 
often return or long endure, the looks expressive 
thereof become gradually more and more firmly 
set ; in other words, the countenance takes an ex- 
pression indicative of a certain character by which 
the individual is distinguished and his position 
in life may be guessed at. Just so it is with the 
modulation of the voice, which, although bounded 
by certain limits, is different in different individ- 
uals, and so distinguishes one from another. As 
the features are in a manner fashioned by the 
predominant states of the mind, so the Voice also 
comes to move, as it were, with the same intervals, 



MODULATION. 137 

in obedience or conformity to the life within. 
Like the features, the modulation of the voice is 
a reflection of the inner life by which persons 
may be distinguished and estimated. The voice 
of a man moved by the lower passions is certainly 
very different from that of a person whose voice 
is expressive only of true and worthy affections. 

Just as there are family likenesses, and it may 
be known from the form and expression of the 
face to what nation a man belongs, so is it with 
the modulation of the voice. Children very read- 
ily take after their parents and kindred in this 
respect. 

Of all nations, the Italians have the most beau- 
tiful modulation, and, altogether, they make the 
most correct and natural use of speech. All their 
speaking sounds, without exception, are made for- 
ward in the mouth; and the peculiar wealth of 
the Italian language in vowels, in the formation 
of which the mouth is always open, is the reason 
why the vocal tones in this language are (level- 

./ DO 

oped far better and more musically than in any 
other tongue. With a natural grace Italian mod- 
ulation rises and falls, like a finely-composed 
melody ; and even when the language is not un- 
13 



138 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

derstood, it is a pleasure to listen to it from the 
lips of such dramatic artists as Eistori and Salvini. 

The modulation of French speech, on the other 
hand, has a restless, eccentric character, which is 
shown in the energetic way in which, without any 
reason, single syllables are continually accented, 
and in the continuous change of the tempo. This 
imparts a sort of unnatural pathos, not only to 
the fashion of speaking on the stage, but also to 
the colloquial intercourse of daily life. 

In Germany, the modulation of the voice is 
different in different places and districts. In 
Austria, Upper Bavaria, and Suabia it is often 
very pleasing. But in the north of Germany, es- 
pecially in Saxony, it is extremely disagreeable, 
from the sliding of the voice up and down in the 
greatest intervals, oftentimes upon one and the 
same syllable. 

The most monotonous is the modulation of the 
English. It is a favorite jest of the Italians to 
imitate English people in their attempts to speak 
Italian with closed mouth and with their monoto- 
nous modulation and accentuation. 

It requires a special gift, which is granted to but 
few, to succeed in fully acquiring the modulation of 



MODULATION. 139 

a foreign tongue, especially in mature years. It is 
by modulation that a foreigner is instantly known, 
even though his speech be perfectly grammatical. 

While no one has ever dreamed of laying down 
fixed rules for the expression of the emotions by 
looks and gestures, or invented, for the under- 
standing of such rules, written characters, all 
works on Elocution undertake, what is just as 
impossible, to give numerous rules for the modu- 
lation of the voice, often enough contradictory, 
and to teach in what intervals the voice is to 
be modulated for this or that effect. We fre- 
quently meet with propositions and attempts to 
devise for this purpose some peculiar system of 
notation. Many writers have indeed endeavored 
to indicate the modulation of single sentences by 
notes, as in music. Of the success of such at- 
tempts the following specimens may enable the 
reader to judge. We premise only that modula- 
tion in speaking does not, like melody in singing, 
keep to distinct limited tones, but ranges by mani- 
fold gradations between the tones, which obviously 
cannot be indicated by notes. Of a number of 
persons who have attempted, at my request, to 
read aloud such sentences according to the notes 



140 



THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 



here given, not any two modulated them in the 
same way; and it was only after long-continued 
and laborious practice that the above notation 
could be observed. 

From "Die Orundrisse der korperlichen Beredsamkeit." 
Wean ich mit Menschen und mit Engelzungen redete uud hat- 






te der Liebe nicht, so ware ich ein ton end Erz oder eine 



Narrative. Joyful. Interrogatory. 



m 



i=sz 



^=z|^=ti=zp 



^IJ^Ep} 



klingcude Schelle. Sie ist da. Sie ist da. 1st sie da' 



Calling out. Narration. 

4- 



Interro^ation. 



With effect. 



zzi> u a^ a .hi i -gg 1 _ 



S5=j^ 



Sie ist da. Er ist niir gut. Ist er mir gut? Er ist niir gut. 
Hanle. 



ivannst du sie lieben ? U du mein Alles. Freund. wer kaun ts auderu ? 



w 



*=*=r:H^ 



~g — sr- 



^ 



Schick dich in die Zeit. Wer will's befehlen? Ich will nicht! 



1st es dir Ernst? Kecht gerne, Recht gerne, Eecht gerne. 



MODULATION. \A\ 

Rush. 



• 


f & <£ ^ W tf ^ 


j m m 4 


w - ^ 


Seems, ma - dam? nay, 


it is; I know not seems. 


«T «T 


^ jrdLiZ: 


d • 9 • 


«r * 



But Bru - tus says ho was am - bi - tious. 

Dr. Rush is of the opinion that for a proper 
modulation in speaking it is necessary to raise or 
lower the voice within greater or smaller intervals 
on each syllable. This he has endeavored to ex- 
press by peculiar notations, as will be seen in the 
above example. The thicker part of these nota- 
tions he calls radicle, and denotes by it the prin- 
cipal and accentuated part of the interval; while 
the thinner he calls vanish, in order to express the 
gradual dying out of the intensity of voice. Many 
rules are given in his work as to how this sliding 
up and down of the voice shall be accomplished 
according to the different emotions which are to 
be expressed. Dr. Rush has apparently noticed 
the proper tones of the speaking sounds, but, like 
all those who have occupied themselves with this 
subject, has treated the speaking sounds in con- 
nection with, instead of distinguished from, the 
13* 



142 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

vocal tones, and both as resulting from one action 
of the vocal organs. 

On account of the great variety of the proper 
tones of speaking sounds, and their rapid changes, 
it is very necessary, for a beautiful manner of 
speech, that the vocal tones should move in slow 
intervals, and never, or very rarely, change their 
pitch on the same syllable. 

What notes are to Music, written or printed 
letters are to Speech j and it is by means of notes 
that Music and by means of letters that Speech 
are both made permanent, and more than this we 
do not need. To the animation of the Form of 
Speech, which Form we have in the speaking 
sounds, in a word, to Modulation, we look not 
only for the due combination and pitch of the 
vocal tones, but also for the stronger or weaker 
accentuation, as well as for the time, or the slower 
or quicker manner in which the syllables, words, 
or sentences are uttered. The accentuation of his 
speech, as well as the import of what he says, 
intimates to the speaker that he must dwell upon 
the long, low syllables longer or pronounce them 
more strongly than the- light, short syllables, and 
thus he will utter more slowly and accentuate 



MODULATION. 143 

more emphatically those words which especially 
indicate his meaning. When the object is merely 
to address the understanding and communicate 
thought, accentuation is the main thing. All 
subordinate propositions are stated quickly and 
lightly, in order to dwell emphatically upon the 
principal thought and thus to impress it upon the 
mind of the hearer. Less depends in this case 
upon the order of the vocal tones, or upon the 
melody of speech. But when emotion is to be 
expressed, it is, together with the accent and the 
time, the melodious order of the vocal tones, 
particularly the manner in which they rise and 
fall, which is chiefly to be regarded. As in 
singing, and in every kind of music, feelings 
and moods can be expressed more deeply and 
delicately than by any other art, so also the 
Modulation of the Voice, the musical tones of 
speech, although they cannot be as perfectly de- 
veloped as in Song, are yet capable in like man- 
ner of giving expression to every emotion, and of 
a-wakening it in the hearer, provided always that 
the speaker himself is entirely possessed with it. 
" The dramatic artist," says Lessing, " must show, 
by the surest and most correct tones, that he is 



144 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

thoroughly penetrated with the meaning of his 
words. Even a parrot must be taught right ac- 
centuation. How wide the difference between an 
actor who merely understands a passage and one 
who feels as well as understands! Words, the 
meaning of which has been committed to memory, 
may be very correctly spoken even when the mind 
is occupied with quite other things, but in this 
case no feeling is possible. The soul must be 
wholly present, its attention must be directed 
singly to the expression of the words. The dif- 
ferences in the modulation of voices are infinite, 
and, although they cannot be classified or defined, 
they can be distinguished by the most unpractised 
ear, as well as observed by the most uncultivated 
voice, when the voice comes from a full heart." 

"In declamation," says Goethe, "I must put off 
my own native character, deny my own nature, 
and transport myself into the situation and mood 
of him whose role I act, so that I shall feel every 
emotion as he felt it." 

The public speaker and the dramatic artist 
must thus, above all things, be profoundly im- 
pressed and penetrated with the sentiments which 
they express before they can hope to produce any 



MODULATION. 145 

effect upon their hearers. The mind is so accus- 
tomed to rule the body, and to make the bodily 
movements subservient to its affections, that every 
one, according to the measure of his sensibilities, 
may command a more or less effective modulation 
of his own voice. The more deeply we ourselves 
feel what we seek to say, the more surely shall we 
communicate the same feeling to others, and the 
more correctly and unconsciously shall we avail 
ourselves of the inexhaustible means of express- 
ing ourselves, afforded by the modulation of the 
voice. We frequently meet, however, with very 
amiable and highly-cultivated persons with a very 
bad and affected modulation of the voice, con- 
tracted usually from those around them, in early 
life, and which has become so fixed that they have 
lost all sense of its disagreeable character, and 
consequently have retained the evil habit through 
life. It is indeed very difficult to get rid of a bad 
habit, but it is not impossible. By attention and 
perseverance grimaces and awkward gestures may 
be corrected. Easily and successfully, however, 
as one's manner of speaking may be improved 
and bad habits corrected (that is, so far as the 
speaking sounds, which are subject to certain fixed 



146 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

laws, are concerned), the modulation of the voice 
is another affair, since it is not to be governed by 
rules. Only indirectly, by example, by general 
culture, and by all those means of education 
which tend to elevate and refine our sensibilities, 
can the modulation of the voice be wrought upon 
and improved. The most can in this case be done 
by parents, who should tolerate in their children 
no disagreeable ways of modulation. 

But what constitutes a beautiful Modulation of 
the Voice? 

It must be evident to our readers that we have 
already virtually answered this question. Our 
aim in the preceding chapters of this book has 
been to analyze and describe the speaking sounds, 
and to show wherein their correct articulation con- 
sists. There our office, as regards elocution, ends. 
Modulation comes from a higher and deeper source 
than the organ of the voice. Let the mind be 
fully occupied with the thought, or the heart full 
to overflowing with the emotion that seeks utter- 
ance, and the voice may be trusted to take care 
of itself. To lay down rules for modulation is as 
idle as to undertake to subject to regulation the 
features of the face, to teach that the brows must 



MODULATION. 147 

be knit when anger is to be expressed, or the 
corners of the mouth drawn down in the expres- 
sion of grief. The only rule in regard to such 
things, the modulation of the voice with the rest, 
is stated in the familiar words of the Roman 
poet, — " If you wish me to weep, you must weep 
yourself?' * 

The calling, and the success, of the great artists 
of the drama lies in this, that by the inspiration 
of their genius they transport themselves into the 
situations and hearts of the characters which they 
represent. When this is done, the play of the 
features, all the movements of the body, and all 
the tones of the voice, will follow as they should. 
Let the speaker cultivate the sense of the beau- 
tiful and the graceful, as it was cultivated of old 
by that Avonderful people whose temples and 
statues and literature have been the wonder and 
the models for centuries down to this hour, and, 
inspired by that, and by the faith or emotion 
swelling for utterance, he need not trouble himself 
about modulation. 

But where the right feeling, the true impulse, 
is wanting, affectation, extravagance, and servile 

* "Si vismeflere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi." — Hor. 



148 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

imitation are sure to creep in and deprave the 
finest powers of speech. And so it comes to pass 
that the extraordinary and the odd usurp the place 
of the beautiful; and this is the case not only in 
matters of fashion, but also in art. Everywhere 
one is painfully impressed with this lack of good 
taste only too frequently apparent in public speak- 
ers and dramatic representations. Play-actors are 
almost always most vehemently applauded when 
their delivery is most unnatural and extravagant. 
How often does one hear even popular actors using 
on the most trivial occasions the same deep tones 
that belong, on the stage, to the production of 
the most tragic effects ! At the beginning of the 
present century such unnatural declamation was 
all but universal on the German stage, and was 
considered as a grace even in ordinary conver- 
sation. Within the last twenty years the critic 
(thanks to him!) has fallen mercilessly upon this 
affectation and exaggeration of the German thea- 
tres, and in so doing has exercised a good influence 
upon the popular taste : so that now the most, 
distinguished dramatic artists of the present day 
study to be natural, recognizing truth and nature 
as the soul of Art. 



MODULATION. 149 

Among many preachers also there prevails a 
highly unnatural and offensive modulation of the 
voice, the so-called pulpit tone, a sort of monoto- 
nous sing-song, in which, in almost every sentence, 
the voice rises and falls in the same way, closing 
with a downward movement. 

The pulpit tone appears to be traditional, and 
to have come down from the Past, as the conse- 
crated mode of expressing the sacred and the 
solemn. 

And yet it is the preacher especially, whose 
calling it is to exercise a forming influence upon 
his hearers, who should be so thoroughly pene- 
trated with the truth and importance of what he 
has to say, that his voice will be naturally and 
involuntarily modulated aright. Many preachers 
have a habit of speaking very rapidly, which 
is as little fitting in a church as the frequent 
unnecessary changing of the register, the making 
of long pauses in order to arrest attention, when 
nothing of any weight follows ; and other tricks 
for effect. How deeply, on the other hand, is one 
impressed, and how elevating is the effect, when 
the preacher, having spared no pains in the acqui- 
sition of distinctness and melody in pronunciation, 
14 



150 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

gives utterance naturally, spontaneously, with a 
true modulation of the voice, to that which he 
himself feels deeply ! 

As oftentimes one melody is sung more easily 
than another in the same pitch, because the com- 
poser knew how to choose the vowel sounds which 
are most favorable to the notes, so there are 
writers whose works are more easily read than 
those of others, and seem of themselves to sug- 
gest and inspire a beautiful modulation. Upon 
a critical examination it will be found that these 
readable writers have the tact to cause dark and 
bright syllables so to alternate that even their 
prose has a certain rhythm, i.e., a pleasing sequence 
of long and short syllables. Those poets whose 
education has made them intimate with the Greek 
language are for the most part distinguished for 
their flowing style : Schiller, for example, in whose 
poems the German language is used in a way most 
favorable to modulation. Likewise in Evers's ro- 
mance "Die agyptische Konigstochter" we have 
a style which for its beautifully flowing character 
can hardly find its equal in German literature. 
On the other hand, writers who look only to the 
grammatical relations of their words often fail to 



MODULATION. \§\ 

command due interest from their readers by per- 
mitting syllables of like sound to follow one 
another, and by not properly distributing long 
and short syllables, faults easily to be avoided 
by every one who has discernment enough to 
see them. Everybody is familiar with series of 
syllables of like sound, which it requires con- 
siderable practice to pronounce with any degree 
of rapidity.* By an alternate action of the or- 
gans of speech changing readily and without 
interruption, and by a correct use of long and 
short, dark and bright, syllables, a kind of modu- 
lation is formed of itself. A public speaker may 
thus by careful preparation do much to secure a 
pleasing delivery. 

Parents and teachers should especially look 
with care to the formation in the young not only 
of a correct but also of a beautiful manner of 
speaking. And it would surely do no harm if, 
after the example of the Greeks, more pains were 
taken in the education of children, to awaken and 
cultivate in them the sense of the beautiful, which 
not only renders life so much richer and more 

* Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, etc. ; or, 
Theodore Thistle sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles, etc. 



152 THE VOICE IN SPEAKING. 

graceful, and lifts us above so many petty cares, 
but also gives to the soul a higher and nobler 
aim. If this book helps in any degree to effect 
this object alone, the pains bestowed upon it will 
be sufficiently rewarded. 



APPENDIX. 



14* 153 



APPENDIX. 



CLERGYMAN'S SORE THROAT. 

In the foregoing pages the way has been shown 
in winch our organs act in order to produce 
speech; and it has also been shown that sci- 
entific principles underlie and govern all those 
various sounds and noises which are necessary to 
speech. But, as in a great many other things, so 
also in speaking and singing, natural laws have 
been disregarded or even denied altogether, and 
by false training an artificial and unnatural way 
of speaking has been formed by many of our 
orators and singers. Nature, however, revenges 
herself severely for any disregard of her laws, and 
the result of this artificial mode of speaking is, 
that the vocal organs very often become diseased. 
In the following pages the attempt will be made 
to state precisely the nature of the disease thus 
occasioned, and the mode of treating it. 

155 



156 APPENDIX. 

Many names have been given to this particular 
form of throat disease, as, follicular pharyngitis, 
papillary sore throat, clergyman's sore throat, or 
contenda phonia, as Dr. Gibb calls it.* 

It is most common among those whose calling 
it is to speak or sing in public, or who are obliged 
to speak for a considerable length of time daily, 
such as auctioneers, school-teachers, etc. 

The first symptoms perceived are a dryness of 
the mucous membrane of the pharynx and a pecu- 
liar huskiness of the voice. These symptoms be- 
come gradually worse; a hacking cough sets in, 
which, through its persistence, is very annoying; 
the voice becomes more and more husky, and fre- 
quently is lost altogether, and attempted phonation 
becomes painful. There is little or no expectora- 
tion. 

A careful examination, with the aid of the 
laryngoscope (which is indispensable, and without 
which no correct diagnosis can be made), reveals 
the following condition of the parts : the soft 
palate appears relaxed and of a darker hue than 
in health, with the uvula slightly elongated and 

* Gibb, Diseases of the Throat and Windpipe. London, 
1864. 



CLERGYMAN'S SORE THROAT. 157 

swollen. The mucous lining of the pharynx is 
dry and injected, and in cases of long standing 
studded with enlarged follicles, and sometimes 
small ulcers are seen on its surface. Upon intro- 
ducing the mirror into the mouth and lifting with 
it the uvula, the interior of the larynx is brought 
into view. The epiglottis, the first object seen, is 
swollen and injected, with here and there an en- 
larged follicle on its posterior surface. The aryte- 
noid cartilages are swollen and inflamed, with an 
abrasion or even ulceration between them. The 
vocal cords are reddened and thickened, especially 
at their free border. A slight paralysis of the 
cords, and especially of the left cord, is present, 
which is shown in the laryngoscopic image by an 
inability of the cords to meet in the median line. 
When it is possible to gain insight into the 
trachea, its lining mucous membrane is found to 
be congested and thickened, as is the case with 
that of the larynx and pharynx. 

These are the conditions of the parts in typical 
cases of this disease; but, of course, all the symp- 
toms may be aggravated in severe cases, where, 
sometimes, the ulcerations extend into the trachea 
and up into the nasal cavities, involving the Eu- 



158 APPENDIX. 

stachean tubes and the middle ear in a general 
sub-acute inflammation. 

The patient, like most writers on this subject, 
gives as the cause of the disorder some exposure 
to a cold draught of air while using his voice or 
immediately after. Sometimes, however, he is 
not able to refer the beginning of the trouble to 
any particular time or exposure, but describes it 
as having come on gradually. The latter is, as 
will be seen, the correct statement as to the origin 
of the disease, for, the predisposition existing, the 
slightest cause suffices to develop the symptoms. 

The real cause, which lies at the foundation of 
the disease, and which the physician has to re- 
move in order to effect a permanent cure, consists 
not, as many suppose, in a long-continued use of 
the vocal organs, but in a faulty way of using 
them. The voice, rightly managed, may be used 
in speaking or singing all day long without 
any other consequence than a feeling of bodily 
fatigue. 

In this volume, as well as in "The Voice in 
Singing," the divisions of the human voice into 
registers, and their mechanism and extent, have 
been fully explained, and it is therefore not neces- 



CLERGYMAN'S SORE THROAT. 159 

sary to dwell here upon these facts. Taking it 
for granted that they are fully and clearly under- 
stood, I proceed at once to the consideration of 
the cause of the so-called "clergyman's sore 
throat." 

Men speaking correctly use the first and rarely 
the second series of the chest register, women 
and children mostly the second chest and the first 
falsetto register. 

The action of the first series of the chest regis- 
ter, it will be recollected, consists in setting the 
vocal cords into full and loose vibrations, and in 
dilating the trachea by means of the pressure of 
the air from the lungs while the arytenoid carti- 
lages move to and fro. 

The trachea can, however, be dilated in its 
transverse axis by compressing it in its longitu- 
dinal axis, which is effected by the large muscles 
of the neck, as will be understood by referring to 
the drawing of a dissected neck. 

This dilating of the trachea by muscular effort 
is what is done by most public speakers. The 
result of it is, that the larynx is drawn forcibly 
down and compressed, and so its relation to the 
cavity of the mouth is altered and the free ac- 



160 



APPENDIX, 




1. Trachea. 2. Thyroid Cartilage. 3. Sternum. 4. Lower Jaw. 5. Thy- 
roid Gland. 6. Ci ico-Thyroid Muscle. 7. Hyoid Bone. S. Sterno-Thyruid 
Muscle. 9. First Rib. 10. Hyoglossus Muscle. 11. Genioglossus. 12. Trans- 
versus Colli Muscle (exceptional). (Luschka, "Anatomy of Larynx.") 



CLERGYMAN'S SORE THROAT. \§\ 

tion of the small muscles of the larynx pre- 
vented. Consequently there is a straining of the 
tensor muscles of the larynx to keep the vocal 
cords stretched tightly enough for the required 
pitch. In order to assist those muscles in their 
hard task, an additional pressure is put by the 
expiratory muscles upon the air contained in the 
lungs, which presses upon the vocal cords, and, 
besides setting them into vibration, renders them 
at the same time more tense. This can easily be 
observed in the mirror, and the effect of the un- 
due pressure upon the delicate white bands shows 
itself in the shape of a faint red line along the 
edges, which gradually extends over their whole 
surface if the strain is kept up, indicating a con- 
gestion of the parts. It disappears again, how- 
ever, when they are rested. The undue amount 
of breath used, in escaping through the glottis 
with considerable force, produces a friction sound, 
or slight rattling, by setting the various folds of 
mucous membrane in the mouth and the uvula 
into irregular vibrations. 

The Germans use the expression "Straw bass" 
to designate this peculiar way of speaking or 
singing. The noise accompanying the voice bears 



162 APPENDIX. 

a striking resemblance to that made by loose straw 
falling upon a hard surface. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that when the 
strain is kept up frequently for a considerable 
time the congestion does not disappear, but, on the 
contrary, is increased to a sub-acute inflammation, 
which gradually extends over the whole surface 
of the mucous membrane lining the larynx and 
pharynx, and that a change in the nutrition of the 
parts takes place. 

In the treatment of this disease two steps are 
to be taken: first, the medicinal and topical; 
and second, the gymnastics of the voice. 

The medicinal part of the treatment consists in 
touching the ulcers and enlarged follicles with a 
solution of nitrate of silver, from twenty to eighty 
grains to an ounce of water, or with some astrin- 
gent solution, according to the state of the inflam- 
mation. Ulcers in the trachea are very difficult 
to reach, and therefore powdered alum or tannic 
acid with gum arabic may be blown into the 
trachea, the amount of the powder, however, not 
exceeding ten grains. The touching is most easily 
effected with a fine camePs-hair brush mounted on 
a silver wire or probe, which must be bent at the 



CLERGYMAN'S SORE THROAT. 163 

angle required to reach the spot. In these oper- 
ations the laryngoscope is indispensable, as only 
the ulcers and follicles should be touched. A gen- 
eral swabbing of the throat, so commonly prac- 
tised, should be abstained from, as an operation not 
only disagreeable and painful but also doing more 
harm than good. In order to relieve the dryness 
of the pharynx, inhalations of tar-water, tincture 
of benzoin, balsam of Tolu, and remedies of this 
class may be administered by means of the steam 
atomizer, or, better still, by an inhaling-bottle, as 
these substances tend to clog the fine opening of 
the atomizer tube. 

The paralysis, if such exists in the cords, gen- 
erally disappears with the other symptoms ; if not, 
the application, internally, of an induced current 
of electricity of moderate strength will remove 
this difficulty also. 

As soon as the parts begin to assume a healthier 
appearance, the gymnastics of the voice should be 
begun, and the patient should be practised in 
using his voice according to the natural laws laid 
down in this work and in " The Voice in Sing- 
ing," selecting for practice such words and sylla- 
bles as are most suitable to the case. 



164 APPENDIX. 

No strict rules can be given, as, in every case, 
the injury to the voice is accompanied by some 
peculiar fault in speaking. The course which I 
have found most efficient is to teach the patient, 
with the aid of a piano, and for a few minutes 
only at a time, to sing and speak in the natural 
divisions of the voice, using as little breath as 
possible. As soon as he has attained any cer- 
tainty in the proper use of the registers, he is 
required to read aloud or recite some verses; 
every word which he does not pronounce properly 
being corrected, those consonants and vowels are 
selected for practice at home in the pronunciation 
of which he is most deficient. This must, how- 
ever, not be continued too long at a time : from 
five to ten minutes will be sufficient at first. 

The length of time required until the patient is 
able to speak correctly, without falling back into 
his old habits, depends greatly upon his fidelity 
and application in acquiring this, to him, new 
mode of speaking. Time only is needed to effect 
a permanent cure. 

C. SETLEE. M.D. 



LfcMr?9 



■ 
■ c I 

I 




